York Council’s Labour Leader Cllr Claire Douglas said there was a balance to be struck when using Anti-Terror Traffic Regulation Orders (ATTROs) as proposals to make powers permanent were approved.

Cllr Kate Ravilious, the council’s Labour transport spokesperson, said it would not mean powers which had barred Blue Badge holders and others from driving into the city centre would be used more.

But opposition Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Nigel Ayre said Blue Badge holder access to the city centre should never have been politicised as the threat of vehicle attacks grows.

The executive’s decision on Wednesday, September 9, is set to see an ATTRO covering York city centre put in place permanently.

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It will mostly lie dormant with the council, police and others deciding when to activate the restrictions on a case-by-case basis during events or in response to specific threats.

Duncombe Place and Deangate would be subject to the restrictions when they are active along with the rest of the footstreet area.

ATTROs have also been used during royal visits and emergency services events.

The area around the south side of York Minster is also proposed to be included so powers can be used during New Year’s Eve gatherings.

‘Servicing periods’ outside of events, such as allowing Blue Badge holders and others back into the footstreets during the Christmas Market after 7pm, would generally be provided.

Council officials have said it will allow them to respond to requests to close roads more quickly and help affected residents, businesses and others plan accordingly.

But objectors branded the moves draconian and said they were concerned the use of the powers could escalate and were fearful of where it could lead.

A temporary ATTRO was brought in during last year’s Christmas Market, which saw drivers including Blue Badge holders barred from city centre footstreets during the event’s opening hours.

The council approved North Yorkshire Police’s request for the measures after officers said they were needed to deter potential terror attacks.

But disabled people said the measures restricted their access to the city centre in the run up to Christmas.

A map showing the area covered by the Anti-Terror Traffic Regulation Order (ATTRO) (Image: City of York Council)

The Christmas Market is set to trial closing on Tuesdays for a rest day this year as part of efforts to ease the impact of restrictions on those affected.

Labour Transport Executive Member Cllr Ravilious said Wednesday’s decision would streamline the process of using the powers and allow the council to take a more consistent and evidence-based approach.

Labour Council Leader Cllr Douglas said there would be good reasons to bring traffic bans in if there was a terror threat.

But she added it would restrict residents’ ability to get around their home city.

Cllr Douglas said: “It’s always a really difficult and sensitive issue for the city and there’s a balance to be struck.”

But Liberal Democrat opposition leader Cllr Nigel Ayre said decisions around security in the city centre were best left to the police.

Cllr Ayre said: “The safety of our residents should not be a political matter.

“It was incorrect for people to previously suggest the terror threat was exaggerated.

“The number of vehicle attacks has significantly increased.”

Dame Helen Mirren proved there is no bad blood between the MobLand cast as she cosied up to Tom Hardy at the season two premiere in London on Thursday night. 

Since the last series, it appears there has been more drama off-screen than on, with reports of major tension between Tom and production during filming leading to claims he is departing the show. 

And just days after the actress, 81, defended the actor, 48, the pair appeared to be getting on like a house of fire as they posed for snaps on the red carpet. 

Embracing Dame Helen as she dazzled in a sequinned dress, the two looked at ease together before joining Pierce Brosnan. 

Dame Helen, who plays Maeve Harrigan in the Paramount+ series, looked sensational in a £4,470 silver sequined gown from designer Jenny Packham. 

Yet while Dame Helen dressed up for the occasion, it appeared Tom had missed the memo as he chose not to wear a suit and opted for a more casual Rogue & Sons $825 white shirt and trousers. 

His bold shirt featured a blue painting of The Tower of Babel by German artist Wilhelm von Kaulbach.

Guy Ritchie’s London-set crime drama is back, as viewers are thrown back into the world of the Harrigan family and their fixer, Harry Da Souza, played by Tom Hardy.

The pair appeared to be getting on like a house of fire as they posed for snaps on the red carpet – just days after the actress defended the actor, 48, following reports of major tensions 

Dame Helen and Tom embraced each other with a sweet hug

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Dame Helen dazzled in a £4,470 silver sequined gown from designer Jenny Packham

The pair put on a friendly display as they posed for snaps 

Pierce Brosnan, who plays Maeve’s husband Conrad Harrigan, put on a dapper appearance in a pinstripe blazer jacket and black and white spotted shirt. 

Meanwhile Laura Pulver made sure to stand out from the crowd in a strapless yellow dress from American fashion designer Prabal Gurung. 

Pairing the dress with silver drop earrings, the star was seen posing with leading woman Dame Helen and co-star Joanne Froggatt.

Emmett J Scanlan showcased his muscular physique in a sheer black top which he wore under a black blazer jacket. 

Other celebrities in attendance included Millie Mackintosh, Roxy Horner,  Kimberley Garner and Nadiya Bychkova.  

The premiere marks the first time the gangster drama cast have all publicly reunited following the controversy surrounding lead star Tom’s on-set behaviour

Over the past few months there were reports of behind-the-scenes friction involving Tom, with stories claiming there were disagreements over the direction of the show.

However, his co-star Dame Helen recently jumped to his defence and said people should be ‘free to f*** up’.

There were accusations of major tension between Tom and production during filming led to reports of him departing the show.

It’s since been reported the actor and producers Jez Butterworth and David Glasser are working through their creative differences in time to start shooting series three.

Dame Helen, who plays Maeve Harrigan in the Paramount+ series, dazzled in a £4,470 silver sequined gown from designer Jenny Packham

Conrad Harrigan ( Pierce Brosnan ) and Maeve Harrigan (Dame Helen Mirren ) are the power couple at the centre of the family 

Laura Pulver made sure to stand out from the crowd in a strapless yellow dress from American fashion designer Prabal Gurung

Pairing the dress with silver drop earrings, the star was seen posing with leading lady Dame Helen and co-star Joanne Froggatt

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Dame Helen and Laura held hands in a sweet moment 

Pierce completed his look with a matching tie, matching pinstripe suit trousers and stylish shades 

Their co-star Joanne Froggatt  wowed in a black maxi dress with dramatic shoulders 

Millie Mackintosh looked incredible as she attended the premiere 

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The show’s director Guy Ritchie and Jacqui Ainsley looked loved up on the red carpet 

Roxy Horner caught the eye in a black mesh mini dress 

Kimberley Garner sizzled in a plunging blue maxi dress 

Thomas Tuchel cut a smart figure for the event 

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Nadiya Bychkova (L) and Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu (R) turned heads in white 

Aimee Fuller looked stylish in double denim 

Nick Moran appeared in high spirits on the red carpet 

Sally Wood stunned in a black mini dress 

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Spencer Matthews looked stylish in an orange suit 

Meanwhile, Dame Helen has doubled down on her defence of Tom, after previously showing her support for her co-star via a ‘Love you now and always’ Instagram post and stating publicly she would work with him again in a ‘heartbeat’.

‘You do learn certain things as you get older,’ she recently mused to Radio Times. ‘About how to work with people, really.’ 

Admitting that whilst she has certainly not become more forgiving of people she added: ‘What you learn is every single person is different; every single person has their own way of doing things.’

‘There’s not one way, there’s a million different ways.’ 

‘What you want is what’s on the screen, or what’s on the stage, to be great. And the only way to do that is for everyone to feel that they can be free to create and explore and experiment and f*** up,’ adding that she herself has ‘endlessly’ ‘f**ked up’. 

The star, who reprises her lead role alongside Tom, Lara Pulver, Mandeep Dhillon and Teddie Allen, gushed that she loves ‘to work in an ensemble situation, and MobLand is very ensemble. It suits me just fine.’

Tom’s dismissal from MobLand was first reported in the Puck newsletter in May. The report blamed ‘clashes with producers among others’, during production of season two.

Just as season two is set to hit screens, season three is set to go into production this autumn.

It’s been reported that his character Harry was not written out at the end of series two. 

Season two picks up after the bloody events of the first season as Harry is caught between increasingly dangerous factions and has to keep the Harrigan operation from imploding.

Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan) and Maeve Harrigan (Helen Mirren) are still the power couple at the centre of the family – but their relationship and their grip on the organisation are under considerable strain.

The Harrigans are attempting to present a united front while new rivals move against their criminal empire.

Written and directed by Benedict Andrews, Electra/Persona is two plays conjoined. The first is a version of Sophocles’ ancient Greek tragedy Electra, and the second is a stage adaptation of the 1966 Ingmar Bergman film Persona.

In Sophocles’ play, Electra seeks vengeance for her father, Agamemnon, who upon returning from war was murdered by her mother, Clytemnestra.

Clytemnestra feels justified in the killing because Agamemnon sacrificed her first-born daughter, Iphigenia, to win the gods’ favour in war. Electra and her other sister, Chrysothemis, wait for the return of their brother, Orestes, whom Electra hopes will enact the revenge.

At the start of Persona, the famous actress Elisabeth Vogler has stopped speaking entirely after performing onstage as Electra. In hospital, a doctor assigns a young and talkative nurse, Alma, to help in Elisabeth’s recovery.

Alma accompanies Elisabeth when her convalescence is transferred to a house in the country. Filling the silence, Alma begins to share her deepest secrets. When she discovers that Elisabeth has been writing letters to the doctor about her confessions, a confrontation ensues.

Linking these two narratives brings to the fore a range of complex meanings. Instead of driving a particular message home, Andrews happily trusts the audience to draw their own connections.

The play stars Cate Blanchet and Nina Hoss, who take turns at the roles of Electra/Elisabeth or Clytemnestra/Alma depending on the toss of a coin.

This sets up the continued themes of blurring image, appearance and personas, which draw on the dreamlike quality of the Bergman film – or films influenced by Bergman, such as David Lynch’s surrealist masterpiece Mulholland Drive (2001).

Before the play begins, Blanchett, Hoss and Ella Lily Hyland (playing Chrysothemis/doctor) enter the theatre from the audience, who applaud. At the performance I attend, Blanchett quips: “We haven’t done anything yet.”

Upon instruction, an audience member flips a coin and Hoss calls “heads”. It is tails. Blanchett says: “Fuck it, I’ll do Electra.”

Hoss and Hyland sit in the front row facing the stage, while Blanchett moves to a container of white face paint, puts some on her hands, then rubs it onto her face and clothes, thus becoming Electra – and the play begins.

The white face paint each actor puts on before joining the scene recalls the masked performance of tragedy in antiquity. Ancient Greek actors wore masks with exaggerated features to be projected out to a large audience .

In contemporary mask work, the donning of a mask is an embodied transformation from actor to character. As persona is Latin for mask, this choice serves as a subtle connection to the second narrative, and lays foundations for the production’s investigation of both performing and blurring identity.

Between stage and screen

Throughout the Electra story, the actors don multiple costumes of other characters from Sophoclean inspiration. They play as Agamemnon, Orestes, the sacrificed daughter Iphigenia, and sometimes even versions of themselves. This heightens the mixing of roles established in the opening coin toss.

In my research into casting practices, I have explored the potential meanings made when different actors play the same role within a production.

In ancient tragedy, actors would play more than one character by exiting and returning in a different mask. Within Electra/Persona, this use of casting and costuming contributes to ideas about the performance of self, and the risk of getting lost in being someone else. By the end of the Electra story, it is unclear precisely who is the one exacting revenge.

There is then a transition into the Persona narrative. Still on stage, the actors remove their white make-up and prepare for their new roles.

Blanchett transitions into Elisabeth and Hoss into Alma. A screen comes down in the centre of the stage which displays live-feed video footage from a camera Blanchett carries around the stage with her throughout.

One of the main differences between stage and screen acting is that the former is a telling medium and the latter a showing medium. Stage actors often assess the size of their role by how many lines they have. Screen actors count the amount of time they have on screen, as there are often reacting shots and close-ups which reveal the character’s inner monologue.

By having non-speaking Elisabeth displayed on the screen and Alma on stage with all of the lines, this artistic choice capitalises on the strengths of both mediums while asking questions like: who is the one really performing? Is the theatrical or the filmic image more authentic?

As the second narrative draws to a conclusion, the blurring of persona and medium becomes more complex and surreal. Who is who? Who is taking advantage of whom? The relationship between the two women results in a powerful and permanent blur.

Magda Willi’s set also plays on these ideas of blurring and mirroring. At the edge of the stage is a 23-step staircase of bleached wood, running from stage left to right and almost to the top of a proscenium arch.

It recalls the seating in an ancient amphitheatre. And by having us face a large empty audience space, it almost puts us in the position of being the show.

This is amplified in the transition from Electra to Persona, when the screen first descends and shows a live-feed of the audience. Not only are we facing another audience, but that other audience is ourselves.

In ancient Athens, Electra was not presented as a standalone play, but accompanied by two other tragedies and a satyr play (a bawdy, satirical drama). The other tragedies may have been connected by a continued narrative, as with the only surviving tragic trilogy, Aeschylus’s Oresteia. But they may also have been connected thematically, allowing the audience to draw connections for themselves.

Electra/Persona taps into this ancient tradition, allowing the audience to think through these complex stories and performance aspects. This is an evocative and artful play, driven by two powerhouse performers.

Electra/Persona is on at the Lyttelton Theatre, London, until October 10.

She said her husband feared she was ‘going to die’ at one point

A woman who experienced a miscarriage was originally told a needed surgery could be done in around two weeks before she was later rushed to hospital in an emergency. The woman, 35, and her husband had been undergoing IVF privately and became pregnant in July following their second embryo transfer.

The woman, who asked not to be named, experienced a miscarriage which was confirmed on August 13. After the miscarriage was confirmed, she opted for surgical management to remove the remaining pregnancy tissue.

However, the couple claim they were told Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge could not provide the surgery for around two weeks, due to a lack of available surgical capacity/cover.

At the time, the woman raised concerns about whether it was safe or appropriate for a woman with a confirmed miscarriage requiring surgical management to be left waiting for this length of time. She was particularly worried about the risks of bleeding, retained pregnancy tissue and infection, adding it was “unacceptable”.

Following concerns raised by the 35-year-old of the potential risks, a midwife booked her in at another hospital for August 21, more than a week after the miscarriage was confirmed. She was then rushed to Addenbrooke’s Hospital by ambulance after haemorrhaging in the early hours of August 18, days prior to her scheduled surgery at another hospital.

The 35-year-old said she had developed significant bleeding and was passing large clots. She described them as the size of “golf balls”.

She was told she would not receive a scan until the following morning (August 19). The bleeding continued and her blood pressure reportedly dropped. Following escalation, her IV fluids were increased and a scan was performed.

Her blood pressure subsequently dropped again and later that day, she was taken for emergency surgery to remove the remaining pregnancy tissue. She said it was difficult for her to accept that it went from being told there was no timely surgical slot available to requiring emergency surgery after haemorrhaging.

The grieving woman felt as though it shouldn’t have reached a stage where it was an emergency. She said her husband thought she “was going to die” at one point.

The woman said her experience raised questions about “patient safety, access to urgent gynaecological care and the wider provision of care for women experiencing pregnancy loss”. She said this has been “physically and emotionally traumatic”.

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) adheres to treatment guidelines set by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence. A CUH spokesperson said they send their “deepest sympathy” to anyone who experiences pregnancy loss and miscarriage.

After being sent home, the 35-year-old returned to the hospital within days suffering in pain. She said that it was “getting worse” over time at home and ended up being in “complete agony again”.

During this subsequent admission, she again became concerned that the seriousness of her condition was not being recognised. Tests identified infection markers, where the patient required antibiotics before being discharged, she claimed. She said she was left asking what might have happened if they had accepted the initial plan and gone home.

The woman explained that there were individual members of staff who were “exceptional” during her care. However, her concern remains with the system they are working within.

The woman added: “We were already grieving the loss of a very much wanted IVF pregnancy. We then found ourselves fighting for access to surgical care, being taken to hospital by ambulance following haemorrhaging, requiring emergency surgery and subsequently being readmitted with infection.”

She said her and her husband paid for their own IVF and said “not only is it a financial commitment but we have been wanting to do this for three years so it makes it an even harder loss. Addenbrooke’s is meant to be this gold-standard hospital but they didn’t have slots to do a procedure that was needed.”

A CUH spokesperson added: “We always aim to treat patients requiring surgical management after a miscarriage as quickly as possible, and we work with our health partners to provide alternative options so patients can be seen sooner.

“Sometimes waiting times can be longer due to growing demand for our services, but we are working hard to reduce these, and this year have increased theatre space and invested in additional staff.”

Oldham MP Jim McMahon has welcomed plans to give England’s mayors the power to introduce a levy on overnight visitors. But critics have warned it could cause ‘irreparable harm’ to the tourism industry

The Minister for devolution has said the Government’s tourist tax is about ‘proportionality and fairness in the system’, despite critics saying it could cause ‘irreparable harm’ to the tourism industry.

Jim McMahon, MP for Oldham West and Royton, said the plans to give English mayors more powers to introduce an overnight visitor levy on visitors, from 2028, were welcomed by regional leaders.

The tax will be a percentage of the accommodation cost and will apply to hotels, B&Bs and even short-term lets such as Airbnbs. Temporary accommodation and shelters or refuges would not be subject to the levy. The rate will be uncapped but the Government believes mayors won’t charge more than five percent.

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Mr McMahon defended the move, saying it was about giving elected regional leaders greater freedom to raise money and spend it on local priorities.

“There’s just a growing sense now that too much of the country is being held back by that approach, one by the inability to actually raise revenue to spend on local priorities, but then also just on spending decisions,” he told the Manchester Evening News. “The number of red tape governments… over generations have put on local government and regional government is part of the problem.

“The direction of travel we’re going in is more fiscal freedom for our mayors, recognising that they have a democratic mandate to the local residents that they can be judged through the ballot box.”

The move had already been hinted at by Andy Burnham last month, in his first sit-down interview with this paper. Mr Burnham did not explicitly rule out tax rises, when asked about the financial challenges of delivering his ambitious 10-year-plan for the country.

He said the decision to put up local taxes was for regional mayors, who would be able to impose certain surcharges, such as an overnight visitor levy.

Greater Manchester already has its own City Visitor Charge – a £1 per room, per night fee, that was introduced in April 2023 to pay for measures aimed at attracting more tourists.

Government sources have insisted mayors are unlikely to make the tax too high in order to protect local tourism industries, but the levy’s lack of an upper limit has sparked concern.

Mr McMahon said it was ‘deliberate’, adding: “Government can’t on the one hand say that we trust local leaders to do what’s right for their area, and we believe in that direct democratic accountability between them and their electorate and then say, but by the way, the government is going to bind your hands.”

But he insisted that mayors were aware that the levies would need to be ‘proportionate’.

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Mr McMahon said the tax needed to be a percentage of the accommodation rather than a flat fee.

He said: “The reason for that is, you can imagine a weekend in Blackpool, a modest B&B – why on earth should you pay a flat fee that means you pay exactly the same as somebody who’s staying at The Ritz in London.”

He added: “I think there’s a thing about proportionality and fairness in the system, where we have been quite clear about that.”

It is yet unclear how much Greater Manchester Combined Authority could actually raise from this proposed levy. Mr McMahon said it was for GMCA to do the analysis on how much to charge.

“Even in a modest economy, this is money that wasn’t there before,” he said.

Plans for the tax were first announced under former prime minister Keir Starmer.

Angela Rayner, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, outlined the proposals during a meeting with regional mayors in No 10 North in Manchester on Thursday.

She said: “Our amazing towns and cities, and our picturesque rural and coastal communities welcome millions of visitors every year – local leaders should have the power to make the most of that popularity.

“This measure will give mayors the choice to raise and reinvest funding where it’s needed most. It’ll help support the local services, public spaces and attractions that both residents and visitors rely on, with decisions taken by people who know their area best.”

More than 42 million international visitors came to the UK last year, spending more than £32bn.

Downing Street said the levy is about ensuring the benefits of tourism stay in local communities and would only apply to people paying for overnight accommodation.

However, the spokesperson was unable to say if areas without mayors would be able to introduce a visitor levy.

So-called tourist taxes are commonplace across European cities such as Rome, Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam.

Edinburgh introduced a five percent charge this summer.

However, Europe has half the VAT rates on hotels and hospitality – at 10 percent.

Mr McMahon rejected claims this could risk making holidays in Britain more expensive.

“If you go to large parts of Europe or America, you will pay the national sales tax but you’ll also pay a local sales tax on top of that…and then on top of that you can pay an overnight tax,” he said.

“But why do you go away? It’s for the experiences. I think this matters for quality of life, people do like the ability to go around the world in an affordable way. But it’s important that Britain can compete.”

The Government insists the levy will shield families from disproportionate costs for cheaper holidays.

The plans have sparked strong opposition from the hospitality industry.

The owner of Premier Inn, Britain’s biggest hotel chain, said it would be ‘hugely damaging’ and urged ministers to ‘avoid inflicting what could be irreparable harm on this large and vital sector of the economy’.

Industry trade body UKHospitality points out that England already has a higher tax base than many continental destinations with tourist taxes.

“It is simply not true to say that this is a standard thing elsewhere in the world,” said Allen Simpson, chief executive of UKHospitality. “It’s not a question of who levies the tax, it’s a question of the tax level, and we are making one of our biggest export sectors uncompetitive.”

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the plans would put jobs at risk in some communities, and that the new tourism tax in Edinburgh was “already having damaging effects”. He said holidays in the UK were “already more expensive” than they appeared because of higher VAT.

“What we’re talking about here is an open-ended power for mayors to set tourism taxes at any level they want,” Simpson said. “And remember that if you go to Paris, if you go to Rome, if you go to Berlin, you’re paying a small tourism tax, but it’s capped.”

He continued: “It will be the case that you’ll have holiday parks which can’t open in the shoulder seasons, and of course people who go on holiday will just have that little bit less money in their pocket.”

However, Mr McMahon pointed to popular holiday destinations like Lake District and Cornwall, saying they ‘they deal with the impact of tourism, in terms of being able to fulfill the demands of tourism and provide public services… and just improving that visitor experience‘.

He said it would ultimately be down to mayors to decide whether they will actually impose the levy.

Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party, criticised the plans.

She wrote on social media: “Labour’s answer to everything? Tax more. Hotels already face 20% VAT. Now they’ll face VAT on Labour’s new tourism tax too.”

The announcement was also slammed by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who said ‘holidays in Britain will become hundreds of pounds more expensive’. He claimed the two Reform mayors in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire ‘won’t touch the ‘levy’.

The Conservative shadowing housing secretary David Simmonds said: “VAT is already charged at 20% on hotels – much higher than in other countries – and now they’ll pay VAT on this tourism tax too: a Labour double whammy.”

Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said local leaders are ‘better placed than Whitehall in deciding how revenue should be spent.

But he warned about the overall tax burden on tourism.

He said: “We do need to consider the balance of tax raised overall by Scottish authorities, in Wales and now the English regions added to that by UK Government.

“In our Budget consultation response, we have called on the government to undertake a review on the international competitiveness of the current rate of VAT on hotel stays and related costs alongside introducing this new Mayoral power to make sure the UK maximises inbound tourism.”

It has been 25 years since the devastating attacks of September 11 2001. Amid the reflection that followed emerged the most comprehensive examination of any terrorist attack in history, the 9/11 Commission Report. Several statements in this forensic diagnosis continue to shape our understanding of those events. These range from the intelligence systems that were “blinking red” in the months preceding the attacks to various institutional “failures of imagination” that left the threat unrecognised.

Yet the commission’s investigation into the circumstances of the 9/11 terrorist attacks was also, fundamentally, a report on how to reimagine and improve security. The commission’s recommendations foreshadowed and legitimised a new model of security that emerged from the ashes of the twin towers, one centred on protecting critical infrastructure using an integrated security architecture.

The 9/11 commission’s blueprint involved integrating agencies, systems and technologies. This principle took many forms. The integration of intelligence reporting is illustrated by UK’s Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC). Technology became weaved into security activities. Important spaces were fortified using a “layered security” approach.

Symbolic buildings, financial districts, city centres, stadiums, high-end shopping malls, and especially airports were the first to be upgraded. Passenger preclearance, biometric documents, full-body scanners, armed police patrols and the canopy of surveillance cameras became the building blocks of these contemporary fortresses. With each attack following 9/11, this template is reasserted. Whatever the threat, the answer is always more integration, more technology, more layers, more of the same.

But after 25 years of building these new architectures of security and a vast expenditure of blood and treasure to fight the global war on terror, are we any safer?

Academics and security experts are asking this question. The conclusion is generally that that a similar attack is improbable – though obviously nobody can say for sure. But we offer a very different analysis based on many years spent examining security systems up close.

Our new book, The Empty Watchtower: Counterterrorism After 9/11 draws on two decades of empirical fieldwork. We experienced these developments and their legacies first hand. Across five distinct case studies, we saw expensive, poorly integrated and porous security systems that look the part but are prone to catastrophic failure.

This journey led us into surveillance control rooms and secure sites to study the rollout of biometric security systems in airports, cities and major sporting events. We participated in counterterrorism training programmes in multiple countries and, more recently, conducted ethnographic research while embedded with specialist surveillance units in several European countries.

Advanced surveillance?

The immediate aftermath of 9/11 stimulated a clamour to do something, to bring certainty against uncertain and terrifying possibilities. International airports became another kind of frontier, a key testing ground for new surveillance systems. Technologists recommended fabulous new solutions for identifying hostile actors, all while keeping the flow of law-abiding passengers moving.

But across all five of our recent case studies, we found security staff who did not understand the technical systems they operated, surveillance cameras pointed in the wrong direction – and declining morale. In one location, the crisis management control room – the centre of the fortress – was used for storage.

Over the past decades, the security sector has placed huge emphasis on training staff to conduct behavioural detection – spotting signs of imminent threat through observation of body movement or facial expressions. We spent months in several European capital cities with covert surveillance teams observing the practice.

In several jurisdictions, these teams carried out their missions to a high standard. But what was the standard? Thankfully, terrorism is rare (though less so in countries destabilised by the war on terror). This means that standards are hard to verify in terms of proving a negative; an absence of rare attacks.

It also means that, in many countries, most indicators of a potential threat are rarely more than signs of stress, fatigue, or other maladies that often affect people in crowds. And so, advanced behavioural and technological systems focused on ordinary people as if they had something to hide.

Worse, because of the discretion accorded to counterterrorism policing, and lack of oversight, the full power of the state was sometimes trained on vulnerable people who had broken no law. Worse still, many of these new post-9/11 policing techniques were improperly integrated with technology-based systems. At times, this convergence targeted entire communities, evident in the abandoned Project Champion in 2011, which involved hundreds of cameras being installed in mainly Muslim areas of Birmingham.

Hidden vulnerabilities?

Several countries where we studied counterterror policing, such as the UK and France, struggle with the number and diversity of individuals on their counterterrorism watchlists. Therefore, we cannot afford to rely on the intelligence services to unmask every terrorist network or foil every attack.

Instead, we have become dangerously reliant on the security fortresses, composed of layers of technology and policing techniques. In our book we review several major attacks during the recent past, such as the Brussels airport attack in 2016. We show that successful terrorist attacks disrupt the points at which technology and human systems integrate – separating the layers of security and potentially leading to destabilisation and collapse.

The intersection of these two domains – technology and organisational systems – has been crucial to both the success and failure of security practice. Yet shortcomings exist in each of these components. As our other work has shown, security technology is routinely overhyped, with benefits assumed and failures routinely overlooked. Abandoned experiments with facial recognition technology, unstaffed control rooms, and AI hallucinated “intelligence” all constitute real world examples that speak to an uncritical faith in technology.

The most successful environments we encountered arose from the initiative, competence and motivation of specific individuals.

Following another pattern set out in the 9/11 commission report, responses to terrorist attacks routinely call for more technology and better integration. Systemic failure and absent technology is easily diagnosed. But correcting them is harder, particularly when solutions call for embellishments of the same systems that were the problem in the first place.

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

Semaglutide, often marketed under the Ozempic and Wegovy banners, was first placed on Wada’s monitoring list in 2024. Tirzepatide, commonly branded as Mounjaro, was added this year.

For a substance to move from the monitoring list to the prohibited list, it needs to meet two of three criteria: that it can enhance sport performance, it poses a health risk to an athlete, or it violates the spirit of sport.

Wada has started one study and is preparing another to examine the effects of the drugs in conditions designed to mimic high-level exercise.

“It’s still going to take us a little bit of time to collect all this information, because they are highly controlled studies in very specific conditions,” said Rabin.

“What we want to see is whether some of the pharmacological impact on human physiology that has been observed in obese patients would also occur in non-obese, highly trained people.”

Rabin said potential benefits could also be offset by side effects such as nausea, fatigue and the loss of muscle mass.

“If you’re an athlete and you lose muscle mass, that may be very counterproductive for what you’re trying to achieve,” he said.

“So all these elements show you that it’s not a very straightforward answer.”

Under the usual timetable, a change approved at next September’s executive committee meeting would take effect in January 2028.

A prolific shoplifter who targeted commercial addresses in Cwmbran has been jailed for more than 12 months.

Warren Turnbull, of no fixed address, admitted to multiple counts of theft from a shop when he was sentenced at Newport Magistrates’ Court on Monday 7 September.

Turnbull, aged 46, stole items, ranging from sausage rolls to a microwave, from stores in the Cwmbran area between Wednesday 22 July and Tuesday 1 September.

At the time of his offending, Turnbull was on licence after previously receiving a suspended sentence for multiple theft offences on Monday 22 June.

This week, Turnbull was sentenced to 70 weeks’ imprisonment.

Inspector Laura Paget, from Gwent Police’s Community Action Team, said:

“We’re committed to keeping our communities safe from harm and recognise that theft is not a victimless crime.

“The impact of these offences committed by is Turnbull is hugely felt by our communities, notably businesses and retailers.

“With overwhelming evidence against him, Turnbull had little option but to plead guilty to the 15 offences he faced in court.

“Turnbull’s chaotic lifestyle has led to his offending, and we know this sentence will be welcomed by those businesses and people affected.

“It is crucial that anyone who is impacted by crime, including theft and burglary, reports it to us so we can continue to target criminals, like Turnbull, who make life a misery for businesses in Cwmbran and beyond.”

The fundraiser will take place at Hollywood Bowl on 19th April 2027, in a collaboration between York Against Cancer and Menfulness.

Twenty-two teams of eight bowlers will play five games each, with the remaining games completed by VIP guests and volunteers to reach the 1,000-game target.

Andy Knowles, CEO of York Against Cancer, said: “1,000 Games bowling is about far more than strikes and spares.

“It’s a fun evening that carries a deeper purpose, raising funds for York Against Cancer’s vital work supporting those affected by cancer, and Menfulness and their support for local men, opening the conversation around men’s mental health.

“We’re especially glad to be teaming up with Menfulness, a fellow York-based charity whose work so closely maps onto our own communities across YO postcodes.

“Together, one frame at a time, I know we can really make a difference.”

The event will bring together businesses, community groups and families for an evening of friendly competition and fundraising.

Prizes will be awarded for the highest team score, the highest individual game score and most funds raised before the event night.

The two charities support people across York and the surrounding area, focusing on both physical and mental wellbeing.

The partnership highlights the importance of community support networks and the connections between physical and emotional health.

Jack Woodhams, CEO of Menfulness, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to be joining forces with York Against Cancer for what promises to be a brilliant evening.

“At Menfulness, we know that good mental wellbeing is about connection, friendship and having people around you who understand.

“Events like the charity bowling night bring people together, raise vital funds and help us continue providing opportunities for men to connect and access support when they need it.

“We’re hugely grateful to everyone taking part, fundraising, volunteering and supporting the event; together, we can make a real difference to people across our communities.”

The event aims to raise funds for essential services and also to increase awareness of the impact both organisations have on the lives of people in the region.

Tyler Heard said he saw the dog dash from the rails and in front of his mount My Spritely in the Glass Times EBF Novice Stakes, won by the William Haggas-trained Quite Cheeky

A jockey has spoken of his relief that a dog escaped unharmed when it dashed under the legs of his horse during a race.

The animal crossed the path of Tyler Heard’s thoroughbred My Spritely, a triple-figure outsider running in the Glass Times EBF Novice Stakes at Epsom on Thursday.

Heard, 24, recalled how he was approaching the two furlong pole on the Jim Boyle-trained filly when the dog “came out of nowhere.”

Somehow it just missed the hooves of the horse, out of contention at the time but on the way to completing the seven furlong contest.

“It happened so fast and I saw the dog about two strides before he crossed in front of us,” said Heard, who competes in around 200 Flat races each year and rides out for John and Thady Gosden’s top stable in Newmarket.

“I was shocked to see it on the course and it felt like he went in a gap between the filly’s legs.

“I was praying he was alright. The dog was so small I don’t think we could have come down, but he was lucky not to have been hurt.”

Clerk of the course Andrew Cooper confirmed the dog, which appeared to go back in the same direction it appeared from, was unscathed after the incident.

The stewards’ report read: “An enquiry was held to consider the circumstances surrounding why a dog appeared on the track, approximately two furlongs out.

“The Clerk of the Course was interviewed.

“After hearing his evidence, a report was forwarded to the Head Office of the British Horseracing Authority for further consideration.”

The race was won by the William Haggas-trained debutant Quite Cheeky (7-1), who held he challenge of Astabuen by a neck.

“He’ll stay further and he really enjoyed the cut in the ground,” jockey Cieren Fallon told Racing TV. “He actually surprised me as I wouldn’t have thought he’d travel so well on such an undulating track, it’s just all on raw natural ability.

“He took the preliminaries in pretty nicely and he didn’t really hit his top speed today, because he was having a good look at everything. I couldn’t pull him up he was full of running.”

But the dog remained the post-race talking point for some time, as some people struggled to believe what they had just seen.

“Did anyone just see a dog ALMOST get trampled @EpsomRacecourse? That lil fella was quite lucky!” one racing fan wrote on X.

And another added: “What on earth have I just watched. A dog has run on the track at Epsom. Why is that not on a lead?”