And with 2026 being the route’s 100th birthday, this year is the perfect time to discover what is now a cultural icon.
Here, we reveal how to do it well, with a guide that steers you towards an authentic Route 66 experience.
We explain how the road acquired legendary status, the diner in Chicago you should have breakfast at before setting off and the dangers of over-reliance on Google Maps for the journey.
Advertisement
Route 66 isn’t a race, and in the following section, we break down how much time to allow for the journey.
From there, it’s the not-to-be-missed sights that help make the trip so wonderfully eccentric, and some of the best motels to book into for a “good old days” vibe.
The finish comes at Santa Monica Pier, where there are a handful of rituals to undertake to mark the end of a road trip of a lifetime.
The birth of a legend
Advertisement
Route 66’s legendary status is partly thanks to the great American novelist John Steinbeck describing it as the ‘Mother Road’ (Getty Images)
Route 66 was commissioned in 1926 and by the time it was finished and fully paved in the late 1930s, it stretched 2,448 miles across Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, from Chicago to Santa Monica — and it quickly attained legendary status, despite not even being the first long-distance highway, or the busiest.
The route’s journey to cultural icon began with hundreds of thousands of farmers from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Missouri using it to reach California in search of work, a plight immortalized in the great John Steinbeck’s powerful 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, in which he dubs Route 66 the “Mother Road.”
When car ownership exploded after the Second World War, Americans discovered en masse that this road of opportunity was also a journey of adventure that took them through bewitching desert landscapes and past neon-lit motels and diners that would come to symbolize classic road trip culture.
Advertisement
By the time the road was decommissioned in 1985 and replaced by the Interstate Highway System, it was ingrained in popular culture, featuring in songs such as Bobby Troup’s (Get Your Kicks on) Route 66, recorded by artists from Nat King Cole to the Rolling Stones, and making appearances in countless road trip movies.
Ironically, its death made it even more famous, with preservation movements emerging to maintain and restore motels, diners and roadside attractions that were now bypassed — today Route 66 is a patchwork of historic sections.
For many, the Route 66 road trip begins in Chicago with breakfast at Lou Mitchell’s restaurant and bakery on W. Jackson Boulevard, located near the official start of the route on Adam Street, close to the Art Institute of Chicago (Getty Images)
Chicago is the traditional launchpad — it’s the historic gateway to the west, and you’ll mostly have the sun behind you — and the ceremonial starting point is amid the skyscrapers of the Windy City’s downtown district, on Adams Street, near the Art Institute of Chicago.
There, you’ll find a modest brown-and-white “Begin Route 66” sign. However, before you drive past it, tradition dictates that you head to nearby Lou Mitchell’s restaurant and bakery on W. Jackson Boulevard, which has been serving breakfast to westbound road-trippers since 1923.
The menu is classic diner fare, from coffee and pancakes to omelets and corned beef hash. And while you wait for a table, the serving staff hand out complimentary donut holes and Milk Duds.
Advertisement
Once you set off, you’ll find yourself in another world in little more than an hour.
Great place to stay:Silversmith Hotel Chicago Downtown is just a three minute walk from the Route 66 and features rooms with mini-refrigerators, coffee makers and wifi.
The original Route 66 passes through the former gold mining town of Oatman in Arizona. You’ll be led to fascinating spots like this by following the ‘Historic Route 66’ signs (Getty Images)
Navigation-wise, it would be tempting to type “Route 66” into Google Maps and take it from there.
But that would be a major mistake. It’s worth laboring the point that Route 66 is no longer one long continuous highway, but a mishmash of surviving segments jammed in among newer highways. Some original sections are quite long and scenic, others last for just a few miles before disappearing (and sometimes making a comeback a bit further along).
Ask Google Maps for the route and you’ll likely end up driving along interstates 40, 44 and 55, which replaced large sections of Route 66, and miss some of the most fascinating roadside attractions.
Advertisement
The key is to follow the “Historic Route 66” signs, which will lead you to some of the most compelling sights and scenery.
The Parks in the Pines General Store and Deli stands along a quiet stretch of Route 66 between Williams and Flagstaff, its vintage 76 sign and weathered red storefront preserving the classic character of mid-century roadside travel in Northern Arizona (Getty Images)
Ideal: 14 days
Today, Route 66 isn’t a means to an economic end — it’s the main attraction, and driving at your leisure will mean you can fully savor its delights. The Goldilocks time frame? Two weeks, or 150-200 miles a day, if you’re committed to the entire Route 66 Chicago-Santa Monica pilgrimage.
A longer journey means ample time to explore roadside attractions, enjoy vintage motels, and have an extra round of pancakes at a classic diner.
Fair: 10 days
Advertisement
Ten days is a relatively popular timeframe, meaning a pace of around 240 miles a day.
However, some sightseeing will need to be sacrificed. One strategy could be to pick up the pace in the eastern section, then slow down and zero in on the more dramatic scenery offered by New Mexico, Arizona and California in the west.
Doable, but rushed: Seven days
A seven-day trip would mean a slow-fast-slow approach, with sections of interstate used to link the most compelling sights. Stops would need to be picked fairly carefully in advance.
Advertisement
Avoid: Four days or less
Shrinking the journey time to four days or less would reduce the drive to a grueling interstate highway marathon. If simply reaching the finish line is the objective, then note that the drive time is about 40 hours.
Cadillac Ranch, created in 1974 by the art group Ant Farm, features 10 classic Cadillacs buried nose-first in the ground. It’s a Route 66 must-visit (cadillac ranch texas)
Route 66’s irresistibly eccentric roadside culture doesn’t take long to emerge after leaving Chicago.
Around 90 minutes away is the town of Wilmington, home to the Gemini Giant, a 30-foot fiberglass astronaut holding a rocket, a variation of the “Muffler Man” figures used to advertise roadside businesses across America.
In the small town of Dwight, around 75 miles from Chicago is the beautifully preserved house-and-canopy-style Ambler’s Texaco Gas Station, which dates back to the 1930s.
Advertisement
Cadillac Ranch, just west of Amarillo in Texas, is mandatory. Created in 1974 by the art group Ant Farm, it features 10 classic Cadillacs buried nose-first in the ground at the same angle as the Great Pyramid of Giza. They’re covered in graffiti, and visitors are encouraged to leave their own spray-painted mark.
In Oklahoma, there’s the cheerful Blue Whale of Catoosa, an 80-foot-long bright blue concrete cetacean with a winning smile; and in Arizona you can pull up in the ghost town of Oatman, where burros wander the streets and “gunmen” stage Wild West shootouts.
Blue Swallow Motel, Tucumcari, New Mexico still retains a 1940s atmosphere, including a neon sign advertising ‘100% refrigerated air’ (Getty Images)
Skip the chains and book into independent motels to be rewarded with a much more authentic Route 66 experience. Family run motels sprung up in huge numbers during the road trip boom of the 1940s and 1950s and there are still a few beautifully preserved examples you can stay in for a taste of the “good old days.” Here are three of the most celebrated options:
Blue Swallow Motel, Tucumcari, New Mexico
The Blue Swallow Motel has been giving Mother Road travelers a comfortable place to rest since 1939, and its yesteryear charms have been beautifully preserved: the neon sign advertising “100% refrigerated air” still glows above it and the rooms contain 1940s-era rotary dial phones and vintage lamps. Rooms from $120.
Advertisement
Wigwam Motel, Holbrook, Arizona
Guests have been staying in the Wigwam Motel’s distinctive concrete teepees since the 1950s — and while the 15 units include mod cons such as wifi and satellite TV, the original handmade hickory furniture has been retained. Rooms from $105.
Boots Court Motel, Carthage, Missouri
When Boots Court Motel opened in 1939, guests paid $2.50 to stay in one of eight rooms completed in the “streamline moderne” architectural style. Each room came with a carport and the property proudly advertised a “radio in every room.” Today, there are 13 renovated rooms for Route 66-ers to stay in and a visitors center housed in the former gas station. Rooms from $79.
At Santa Monica Pier there is a sign marking the end of Route 66 (Getty Images)
Eight states and nearly 2,500 miles of tarmac later, you’ll arrive at Santa Monica Pier where you’ll find a sign that simply says “End of the Trail.”
Advertisement
It’s not the most celebratory piece of signage, but the exuberant surroundings, from street performers to the pier’s amusement park, make the occasion a fittingly jubilant one.
A popular ritual among road trippers is to take a selfie at the sign, then walk to the end of the pier and look back, inland, at the land mass that’s been tamed, before a dip of the toes in the Pacific Ocean.
Great place to stay:The Shore Hotel (rooms from $235) is directly across the road from the pier and offers rooms with balconies overlooking the beach.
Good to know: Parking around the pier is congested, and while there is a parking deck beneath the pier, it’s recommended to leave your car at the hotel and walk to the finish line.
Donald Trump gave several very strange updates about everything from Iran to Joe Biden throughout Easter Monday in typically rambling fashion.
Across one truly surreal day, the US president talked about bombing the Middle East while surrounding by jovial Easter decorations, shared a lot of detail about a secret mission and threatened to send a reporter to prison.
But here’s a look at some of his more obscure moments which may have slipped under the radar…
Advertisement
1. Stood Next To A Giant Rabbit While Talking About War
While hosting a nonpartisan Easter event in the White House, Trump stood at a microphone and told gathered children about… the war he started on a different continent.
He said: “I don’t think it gets much more hostile than Iran. They’re capable fighters, they’re very tough people. There are others like that.
“You don’t mind when the enemy is weak but they enemy is strong.
Advertisement
“Not so strong as they were about a month ago, I can tell you, in fact I can tell you they’re not too strong at all, in my opinion, but we’re soon going to find out aren’t we?”
He was stood next to someone dressed in a large rabbit costume throughout this particular rant.
2. Used The Easter Egg Hunt To Attack Harris And Biden
Despite beating the Democrats in the presidential election more than a year ago, Trump still used his White House event to bash his rivals.
Advertisement
He told the crowds gathered for the Easter Egg hunt: “Did anyone in the egg industry vote for Kamala? She’s a low IQ person.
“Who is a lower IQ person, Biden or Kamala?”
He later sat with children telling them about his repeated theory that Biden used an autopen to sign official documents.
3. Gave A Ridiculous Amount Of Information About A ‘Covert’ Operation
Advertisement
During a later press conference where he was expected to give an update on Iran, Trump spent more than 15 minutes talking about how the US military rescued an American crew member from Iran after his aircraft was shot down.
He said the airman “scaled cliff faces, bleeding rather profusely, treated his own wounds, and contacted American forces to transmit his location”.
Trump also interrupted his own press conference to ask top officials “how many” rescuers were sent on the mission.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Caine, said: “Uhh, I’d love to keep that a secret.”
Advertisement
Trump said he would, then proceeded to divulge the information anyway: “It was hundreds… hundreds could have been killed.”
He added that the rescue mission involved 155 aircraft, four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refuelling tankers, 13 rescue aircraft and others, amid additional efforts to deceive the Iranians about where they were searching.
Then CIA director John Ratcliffe stood at the podium and said the US used unique capabilities which only the president can deploy – but refused to share further details.
“As an agency, the CIA possesses unique capabilities that only the president can deploy. Some of these capabilities fall under covert action authorities. And because covert means exactly that, I’m not going to be able to tell you everything that you want to know,” Ratcliffe said, moments after Trump’s oversharing.
Advertisement
4. Threatened To Send A Reporter To Jail
The president also said his government was pursuing the “leaker” who told the media about the missing airman – and the press company who published the information.
“They basically said that ‘we have one and there’s somebody missing.’ Well, they didn’t know there was somebody missing until this leaker gave the information,” Trump said.
“So whoever it was, we think we’ll be able to find it out because we’re going to go to the media company that released it, and we’re going to say, ‘national security, give it up or go to jail.’
Advertisement
“And we know who – and you know who – we’re talking about. Because some things you can’t do, because when they did that all of a sudden the entire country of Iran knew that there was a pilot that was somewhere on their land that was fighting for his life.”
5. Said He Was ‘Not At All’ Concerned About War Crimes
In a social media post over the weekend, the president threatened to bomb Iranian civilian infrastructure if the regime did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his set deadline (1am on Wednesday, UK time).
Doing so would widely be considered a war crime under international law.
Advertisement
But speaking at the White House, Trump said: “I’m not worried about it. You know what’s a war crime? Having a nuclear weapon.”
6. Laid Into Nato (Again)
Trump said the defence alliance’s refusal to help him attack Iran is a “mark on Nato that will never disappear”.
He said he was “very disappointed” by the lack of support, after several countries refused to let him access their military bases or airspace – even though the UK has allowed the US to use their sites for defensive strikes.
Advertisement
European governments also refused to send their own warships to the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump alluded to his upcoming meeting with Nato chief Mark Rutte, saying: “They’re going to say, ’oh, we’ll do this. We’ll do that. Now they all of a sudden want to send things.”
He also revived his spat with European allies from the beginning of the year, saying: “It all began with, if you want to know the truth, Greenland. We want Greenland. They don’t want to give it to us. And I said, ‘bye bye’.”
7. Claimed Kim Jong Un Used A Slur To Talk About Biden
Advertisement
Trump somehow ended up alleging that the North Korean dictator had attacked the former US president.
Trump said: “We’ve got 45,000 soldiers in South Korea to protect us from Kim Jong Un, who I get along with very well. He said very nice things about me. He used to call Joe Biden a mentally r******* person.”
He added: “He was so nasty about Joe Biden he was terrible. But to me, he likes Trump.”
Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
Huddersfield Town struck in the 106th minute to beat Leyton Orient in a dramatic League One encounter on Monday – but Ryan Ledson’s goal was completely missed by ITV’s highlights show
Furious fans have let rip on social media after ITV’s EFL highlights show failed to air Huddersfield Town‘s last-gasp winner at Leyton Orient, instead saying the game finished 1-1.
Advertisement
The League One clash at Brisbane Road looked to be ending all-square after Bojan Radulovic cancelled out Radinio Balker’s own goal just before the break. But Ryan Ledson popped up in the 16TH MINUTE of second half stoppage time to ensure Huddersfield remain in with a chance of making the play-offs.
While Huddersfield’s fans were left celebrating Ledson’s dramatic winner, Monday night’s highlight show inexplicably missed it, with the final score graphic saying the match ended 1-1.
Eagle-eyed fans quickly flocked to social media to tear into the programme, which has been criticised frequently since ITV acquired the rights to show highlights from Quest.
“The EFL need to find better guardians for TV highlights than this awful ITV programme,” one social media user fumed. “Today, they completely missed Huddersfield’s winner at Orient, announcing that the game had finished 1-1 instead. Absolutely pathetic.”
Another wrote: “That is absolutely outrageous from ITV. Give it to someone who’s cares, the BBC did a great job but was on at midnight. Quest had a superb host and actually gave some decent analysis. Something needs to change because the ITV coverage is worse than amateur.”
Content cannot be displayed without consent
Huddersfield’s win means they are three points off Stevenage in sixth, though Alex Revell’s men have a game-in-hand on the Terriers.
Defeat for Orient means their six-game unbeaten run is over with the O’s now just four points above the relegation places.
Advertisement
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of MirrorFootball content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle for the 2025/26 season, saving £336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky shows at least 215 live Premier League games each season, an increase of up to 100, plus Formula 1, darts, golf and more.
Your browsing history, your location, your political preferences. For years, tech companies have found ways to turn personal data into profit. Now, a new and far more intimate frontier is opening: the electrical signals produced by your brain.
This is not science fiction. Nor is it about brain implants for paralysed patients or experimental medical procedures. A fast-growing consumer market of non-invasive neurotechnology – wearable headsets, brain activity-reading headbands, focus-enhancing devices – is already here, already being sold and already collecting neural data from ordinary users. But the legal and ethical frameworks to govern it are struggling to keep up.
A landmark case from Chile shows why this matters.
In August 2023, Chile’s Supreme Court issued the world’s first ruling on commercial neurodata. The case involved Senator Guido Girardi and Emotiv Inc, a San Francisco company selling the Insight wireless headset – a consumer device marketed for focus, meditation and cognitive performance.
Advertisement
When Girardi began using it, he discovered that accepting the terms of service meant granting Emotiv a worldwide, irrevocable and perpetual licence over his brain data. Unless he paid for a premium account, that data would be stored in Emotiv’s cloud with no way for him to access or export his own neural records.
The Chilean Supreme Court ruled that Emotiv had violated Girardi’s constitutional right to mental integrity, concluding: “The data obtained from Insight users … overlooks the preliminary requirement to have express consent for its use for scientific research purposes. Information collected for various purposes cannot be used differently without its owner’s knowledge and approval.”
The Supreme Court ordered the company to delete Girardi’s data immediately and prohibited sale of the Insight device in Chile until its privacy policies were revised. The headsets remain on sale in other countries around the world.
Advertisement
Promotional video by Emotiv for its electroencephalography (EEG) brain headsets.
The ruling was a first. But the problem it exposed is global – and the legal pressure is building. In the US, Colorado and California enacted the first state-level privacy laws specifically governing neural data in 2024, and at least six other states are now moving in the same direction.
At the federal level, US senators Chuck Schumer, Maria Cantwell and Ed Markey announced plans in September 2025 to introduce the Mind Act – Congress’s first serious attempt to bring the neurotechnology industry under a dedicated regulatory framework.
A market growing faster than its rules
Emotiv is far from alone. Companies such as Muse (marketed for meditation and sleep) and Neurosity (aimed at software developers seeking focus) have built a consumer neurotechnology sector that is projected to double in value to more than US$55 billion (£42 billion) within a decade. It is attracting investment from some of the world’s wealthiest technology figures.
These devices read electroencephalography (EEG) signals – the brain’s electrical activity – through sensors worn on the head. Some go further, using photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors to measure heart rate and physiological responses. Think of this like a fitness tracker – but instead of counting steps, it is reading signals from your nervous system and, in some cases, inferring your cognitive or emotional states from them.
When fitness trackers first appeared, few people thought carefully about where their heart rate data was going, who could access it, or what it could be used to infer. Neural data raises those same questions – at considerably higher stakes. Unlike step counts, brain signals can potentially reveal attention patterns, stress responses and emotional reactions that users themselves may not be aware of.
Where the law has not yet caught up
We research these issues as part of the interdisciplinary group at Lund University, which brings together law, neuroscience, medicine, ethics and economics.
The Emotiv case turned on Chile’s constitutional protection of mental integrity – a provision the country had specifically enshrined in 2021. Most jurisdictions have no equivalent. The question of how neural data fits into existing legal frameworks remains open.
Advertisement
Under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, brain signals could potentially qualify as biometric or health data, both of which attract stronger protections. But consumer neurotechnology, when sold as wellness products rather than medical devices, often falls into a regulatory grey area, sitting awkwardly between health law, consumer protection and data privacy rules.
What remains unresolved across most of the world are the basic questions. What are users consenting to when they accept terms of service for a neural headset? How long can that data be retained? Can it be sold to third parties, used to train AI models, or shared with advertisers and insurers?
The Emotiv case showed that, in one instance at least, a company had retained a user’s neural data for research purposes under anonymisation provisions, without that user having any meaningful awareness of what was being collected or why.
The stakes here are higher than with most forms of personal data. Neural signals are not like a credit card number that can be changed if compromised. Generated by your brain in real time, they can increasingly be used to infer things about you that you have not chosen to disclose – such as emotional responses, cognitive patterns, and other reactions you may not consciously be aware of.
Advertisement
Chile has showed that courts can act. Legislators in several jurisdictions are beginning to follow. The harder question is whether the frameworks being built are moving fast enough to match a market that, in the quest for competitive advantage, does not want to hang about waiting for them.
The four astronauts on Nasa’s Artemis II mission have travelled further from Earth than anyone in human history, in a dramatic lunar flyby that brought spectacular images of the planet from rarely seen angles.
The Orion spacecraft’s crew lost contact with mission control for 40 minutes as they circled behind the Moon, as was expected. With communications re-established, astronaut Christina Koch said: “It’s so great to hear from Earth again.”
The team also witnessed a total eclipse of the Sun as the Moon blocked out its light, before beginning their journey back home.
After the flyby, President Trump spoke to the team and congratulated them: “Today, you’ve made history and made all America really proud, incredibly proud.”
Five ways to turn eco-anxiety into something positive – Positive News
Advertisement
Advertisement
Feeling stuck in climate anxiety? These five small actions can help you feel more grounded, connected, and purposeful
Advertisement
Words by
Enora Thépaut
April 7, 2026
Advertisement
Feeling stuck in climate anxiety? These five small actions can help you feel more grounded, connected, and purposeful
Advertisement
1) Design your attention
It’s hard not to feel anxious when all you see is news about the catastrophe ahead, while everyone outside your algorithmic bubble seems oblivious. Remember: what you see has been carefully curated to keep you scrolling. You probably spend more time than you’d like doomscrolling, while the people around you are receiving entirely different information. Audit what you consume and notice what creates anxiety versus what empowers you. Then intentionally curate your feed: keep what sets you up for action and hope, let go of what paralyses you.
Image: Jonas Leupe
Advertisement
2) Make something
Anxiety is a marketer’s best friend. Someone is always ready to sell you a miracle solution, and, desperate for a fix, we fall for it. But quick patches never satisfy our underlying needs. Instead of buying your way out of anxiety, try making something. Moving from passive consumption to active creation reduces waste while increasing joy, skill-building, and community exchange. Whether you bake bread, mend clothes, or grow vegetables, manual labour and craftsmanship restore agency, pride, and connection — things no retail therapy session can deliver.
Image: Lee Vue
Advertisement
Solutions every Saturday Uplift your inbox with our weekly newsletter. Positive News editors select the week’s top stories of progress, bringing you the essential briefing about what’s going right. Sign up
3) Find your climate superpower
Advertisement
We need everyone to do the basics — recycle, vote, reduce their footprint — but we also need everyone to contribute their unique talents. Addressing the climate crisis touches every industry and every community. You don’t need to be an engineer or policymaker. We need graphic designers, teachers, storytellers, event planners, bus drivers — everybody. Draw yourself a Venn diagram: what are you good at? What work needs doing? What brings you joy? The sweet spot where those three circles overlap: that’s your climate superpower. Stay there as often as you can.
Image: Adam Winger
Advertisement
4) Find your people
Isolation fuels anxiety; connection fuels action. Join a climate group, a community garden, or a local initiative. If big groups feel daunting, form a small circle of 3–5 friends to share skills, support each other’s actions, and co-create solutions. Last year I joined neighbours to transform a fly-tipping spot into a community garden. What I thought would be a half-day chore became a source of real connection: neighbours stopped to chat, new friendships formed, and we’re now planning more tree planting together. Small communities create real change, and real joy.
Image: Brooke Cagle
Advertisement
5) Plant a seed for the future
Most of us believe that acting for the planet requires doing something grand, and that belief stops us from doing anything at all. But change works like nature: small, interconnected actions grow into something much bigger. Ask yourself: “What is the smallest thing I can do today that feels like a seed for the future?” Write a letter. Learn a skill. Start a conversation. Action breeds action. You don’t need to see the whole forest, you just need to plant the first seed.”
Enora Thépaut is the Creative Director of OF POSSIBLE FUTURES, a creative organisation working with mobility, health, and environmental brands on regenerative futures.
Advertisement
Image: Sippakorn Yamkasikorn Main image: Aleksandar Nakic
Advertisement
Be part of the solution
At Positive News, we’re not chasing clicks or profits for media moguls – we’re here to serve you and have a positive social impact. We can’t do this unless enough people like you choose to support our journalism.
Give once from just £1, or join 1,800+ others who contribute an average of £3 or more per month. Together, we can build a healthier form of media – one that focuses on solutions, progress and possibilities, and empowers people to create positive change.
Emergency services including the air ambulance were called on Monday evening (April 6), at 11.02pm.
The patient was taken to hospital for further treatment.
A spokesperson from the Great North Air Ambulance Service said: “On Monday (April 6), our critical care team was activated at 11.02pm to reports of an assault in Darlington.
Advertisement
“We had a paramedic and doctor on a rapid response vehicle, and they arrived on scene at 11.12pm.
“Our team worked alongside the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) to assess and treat a patient.
“The patient was taken to hospital by a NEAS road crew, accompanied by our team.”
A spokesperson from The North East Ambulance Service said: “We received a call at 10.58pm on Monday, April 6, to reports of an incident at a private address in Darlington.
Advertisement
“We dispatched an ambulance crew to the scene and requested support from our colleagues at the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) who attended by road.
“One patient was taken to hospital for further treatment.”
Durham Police have been contacted for more information.
Australia’s most decorated living veteran has been charged with allegedly killing five unarmed Afghans between 2009 and 2012.
Police have not named him but it’s widely reported to be Ben Roberts-Smith, a 47-year-old former SAS corporal.
He was awarded the Victoria Cross and the Medal of Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan – but now faces five counts of war crime murder.
Roberts-Smith was arrested when he landed at Sydney airport on Tuesday.
Advertisement
Police said he had been denied bail and would appear in court for a bail hearing on Wednesday.
“It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of ADF [Australian Defence Force] members when they were killed,” said police commissioner Krissy Barrett
Image: Roberts-Smith at a court hearing in Sydney in June 2021. Pic: AP
Roberts-Smith is the second veteran to be charged after a 2020 report found evidence Australian SAS and commando troops had unlawfully killed 39 prisoners, farmers and other non-combatants.
Oliver Schulz, 44, is the other former Australian SAS veteran who’s been charged.
Advertisement
He is alleged to have shot an Afghan man in the head three times in a field in Uruzgan province in May 2012. Schulz has pleaded not guilty.
War crime murder in Australian law is defined as the intentional killing of someone not taking an active part in hostilities, such as civilians, prisoners of war or wounded soldiers. It carries a potential sentence of life in prison.
Image: Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith with Queen Elizabeth II.
Pic: AP
Roberts-Smith sued several newspapers over articles in 2018 that accused him of various war crimes. He has consistently denied allegations of wrongdoing during his service.
But in 2023, a civil court found he had likely killed non-combatants unlawfully, and in September, Australia’s highest court refused to hear his appeal.
The criminal charges will need to meet a higher bar; proving the allegations beyond reasonable doubt rather than on a balance of probabilities.
Commissioner Barrett said the charges were “not reflective of the majority of members who serve under our Australian flag with honour, with distinction and with the values of a democratic nation”.
Image: The Victoria Cross and other medals awarded to Ben Roberts-Smith. Pic: AP
Julie-Ann Bowden was speaking after an event she helped organise in which more than a dozen fellow riders took to routes around the borough in an attempt to raise awareness of what the Highway Code says about how to overtake horses.
She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that while “the majority” of drivers show the beasts the respect they deserve, there are others who refuse to be held up for the short time it takes to pass a horse safely – and then fly into a rage when challenged.
Julie-Ann says such incidents are an increasingly regular occurrence, having recently experienced two in the space of a week, close to the livery stables she uses in Whittle-le-Woods.
Advertisement
Confronted in the first with the sight of a BMW heading towards her horse at high speed, she gave a hand signal to request the driver slow down – but got a very different gesture in response.
“He was coming really fast down Cophurst Lane, [which is] a small country road with parked vehicles, and I shouted and [indicated] for him to slow – but he just did his own hand signals and actually stopped, reversed and hurled a load of abuse at us.
“[Another day], on Town Lane, myself and a friend had gone into a bit of a gap between parked cars to allow a van to come through – and, as he was approaching, my friend on the horse behind me asked that I try to slow him down.
“But he just carried on and as he went past, something in the back of the van made a really loud noise, because of the road surface, and my friend’s horse turned and wanted to run away. That made my horse want to go as well – and it was [only because] we were so experienced that we weren’t unseated.
Advertisement
“We shouted after them [and asked them] to stop and have a conversation. The passenger got out and we got the usual – ‘You shouldn’t be riding your horses on the road if they’re not safe, you should be in a field,’” Julie recalled.
The latter incident – which was reported to the police, complete with camera footage – was a dispiritingly fitting precursor to last weekend’s awareness-raising ride. The procession boasted 18 riders at any one time along the route and was arranged as part of the ‘Pass Wide and Slow’ campaign.
The initiative aims to promote caution and consideration around horses on the road – and, in particular, knowledge of rule 215 of the Highway Code, which advises motorists how to negotiate the animals when they encounter them.
It says that they should “slow down to a maximum of 10 mph” and “when safe to do so, pass wide and slow, allowing at least two metres of space”.
Advertisement
Motorists are further warned: “Be patient [and] do not sound your horn or rev your engine” – and they are also reminded that children are often amongst groups of horse riders on the road.
Julie-Ann says that patience is in short supply amongst the motorists most irritated by the sight of horses on the highway – but appeals to them to think about the many potential consequences of their actions.
“The real danger is that the horse spooks and the rider is thrown…[maybe] into the oncoming traffic or it could be onto the [overtaking] vehicle itself. [That vehicle] may end up with the horse on [its] bonnet, which I’m sure the drivers really don’t want.
“And a loose horse on the highway could obviously cause even more issues if it tried to run off and head for home.
Advertisement
“I just don’t understand why [people] will put themselves and other road users in danger,” Julie added.
HORSE RIDING HORRORS
According to the British Horse Society (BHS), in 2024:
● 3,118 road incidents involving horses were reported;
Advertisement
● 58 horses died;
● 97 horses were injured;
● 80 people were injured.
However, figures from the Pass Wide and Slow survey suggest that these sobering stats are significantly underreported, with only 29 per cent of incidents being logged on the BHS app.
A cyclist was taken to hospital with serious injuries
A bus company has released a statement after one of its vehicles was involved in a crash. A Stagecoach bus was involved in a crash with a bike at around 6pm on Saturday (April 4) on Station Road in Cambridge.
Advertisement
The cyclist was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital with serious injuries. No arrests were made and the bus driver remained at the scene.
Darren Roe, managing director of Stagecoach East, confirmed it was a Stagecoach bus involved in the crash. He said: “Our first thoughts are for the welfare of those affected – safety is our absolute priority and we will carry out a full investigation into the circumstances.”
Cambridgeshire Police attended the scene and continued its investigation into the crash. A police spokesperson said: “We were called at about 6pm on Saturday with reports of a collision between a bus and a cyclist on Station Road in Cambridge.
“Officers attended and the cyclist was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital with serious injuries. The bus driver remained at the scene. No arrests and investigations are ongoing.”
Advertisement
The East of England Ambulance Service also attended. An ambulance spokesperson said: “One ambulance, a paramedic car and East Anglian Air Ambulance were called to Station Road Cambridge on Saturday, following reports of a cyclist injured in a road traffic collision.
“One patient was transported by road ambulance to Addenbrooke’s Hospital for further assessment and care.”
One person was killed and four were injured in a shooting incident near the Israeli consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday, authorities have said.
A gunfight erupted outside a building housing the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday, according to Turkey’s Haberturk broadcaster. Reuters video showed a police officer pulling out a gun and taking cover as gunshots resounded. One person was seen covered in blood.
One attacker was killed, while two were injured at the scene, and two policemen were lightly wounded, Istanbul governor Davut Gul said. Initial reports said three were killed in the shooting incident.
The report said attackers were carrying long-barreled weapons. The area surrounding the building was quickly sealed off.
Advertisement
There was no immediate information on the identity of the attackers or what their motives may have been.
Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor’s office immediately opened an investigation into the incident, Turkey’s justice minister Akın Gürlek said in a statement shortly after the incident.
“Upon the reports of gunfire sounds in the vicinity of the Israeli Consulate located in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has immediately initiated an investigation,” the statement read on X.
Three prosecutors have been assigned to investigate the incident, he added.
Advertisement
“Within the scope of the investigation, one deputy chief public prosecutor and two public prosecutors have been assigned; our public prosecutors have promptly arrived at the scene and begun examinations.
He continued: “Under the coordination of our Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, in collaboration with relevant law enforcement units, the work is ongoing for the purpose of fully elucidating the incident, and the investigation is being conducted meticulously and in a multifaceted manner.”
No Israeli diplomats were believed to be stationed in Turkey at that time, either at the consulate in Istanbul or the embassy in Ankara. The consulate occupies one or two floors inside the high-rise building, according to Haberturk.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login