​The retrospective application for shopfront advertising in Scarborough’s conservation area has been blocked after the scheme was slammed as “hideous” by town councillors.

Unique Home Properties Ltd said it had installed its signage at the vape and confectionery shop at 91-91A Westborough “without prior advertisement consent” due to an “inadvertent oversight”.

​The ‘Yes Store’ is located in a historic corner plot in the designated Scarborough Conservation Area and the town’s primary shopping area. The Grade II-listed Capitol Plaza is adjacent to the shop.

​“The glazing to the front is completely filled by internally secured vinyl signs advertising primarily vapes but other miscellaneous goods sold within the store,” a report notes.

​Planners described the design as a “garish, multi-coloured, contemporary form of advertisement signage with overly large letters which dominate the fascia and which visually jars and clashes with the traditional façade of the building”.

​They added: “The sum of this is an unsympathetic shop front which harshly juxtaposes with the attractive historic detailing and architecture of the host building, resulting in significant visual harm to the appearance of the building and character of the surrounding area.”

​Officers concluded that the signage visually detracts from the host building in a harmful way because of its “‘lively’ frontage in comparison to the broad traditional and subdued character of the area, and thus, fails to preserve the characteristics of the host building and the appearance and character of the designated conservation area”.

​North Yorkshire Council rejected the application on Friday, April 24.

​

For decades, one of the most prominent public health messages has been that smoking kills. But another everyday habit, far less dramatic and far more socially acceptable, may also be damaging our health: prolonged sitting.

Many people now spend up to ten hours a day seated at desks, in meetings or in front of screens. It may feel harmless, even unavoidable, but growing evidence suggests that too much sitting is linked to serious health risks, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and early death.

People are often told to protect their health by exercising more and eating better. That advice matters, but it misses something important. Even those who meet recommended exercise targets may still face increased health risks if they spend most of the day sitting down.

This is because sedentary behaviour and physical inactivity are not the same thing. Physical inactivity means not doing enough moderate or vigorous exercise. Public health guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, such as brisk walking or cycling, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, such as running. Sedentary behaviour, by contrast, refers to long periods of sitting or reclining with very low energy expenditure, whether at a desk, in front of the television or during a long commute.

A person can therefore be physically active and still highly sedentary. Someone might go for a run before work, then remain seated for most of the next eight hours. The exercise helps, but it does not erase the effects of prolonged sitting on the body.

When the body stays still for long periods, a series of changes begins to take place. Skeletal muscle activity drops, making it harder for the body to absorb glucose from the blood. Over time, this contributes to insulin resistance, a major pathway to type 2 diabetes. Fat metabolism also slows down.

Blood flow becomes less efficient, reducing the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to tissues. This can impair vascular function and, over time, contribute to raised blood pressure.

Together, these metabolic and circulatory changes increase the risk of cardiometabolic problems, including high blood sugar, unhealthy cholesterol levels and the accumulation of abdominal fat.

Prolonged sitting also affects the musculoskeletal system. Poor posture and limited movement place strain on the neck, shoulders and lower back, helping to explain the aches and pains so common among office workers.

The effects are not only physical. Long periods of inactivity can reduce alertness, concentration and energy levels. Employees who sit for extended periods often report feeling more sluggish and less productive.

Globally, physical inactivity is estimated to contribute to around four to five million deaths each year. Much of the public health response has focused on encouraging people to exercise more, but reducing sedentary time is increasingly recognised as an important goal in its own right.

Since most adults spend a large share of their waking hours at work, the workplace is one of the most important settings for tackling the problem. Offices, universities and hospitals are not just places of productivity. They are also environments in which daily habits are shaped and reinforced.

Reducing sitting time does not require a gym membership or a dramatic office overhaul. Small, regular interruptions to sitting can make a meaningful difference.

Research suggests that standing up or moving for just two to five minutes every 30 to 60 minutes can improve glucose metabolism and reduce cardiometabolic risk.

Some organisations are already trying to build this into the working day. Walking meetings, prompts to stand or stretch and short movement breaks between tasks can all help people spend less time sitting.

Workplace design matters too. Height-adjustable desks allow employees to alternate between sitting and standing, while accessible staircases and walking routes can encourage more movement throughout the day.

A study of offices in the UK found that these kinds of measures can reduce daily sitting time by around one to one and a half hours. Employees also reported improvements in energy, focus and musculoskeletal comfort.

The message is straightforward: regular exercise is essential, but it does not fully offset the risks of sitting for too long. If smoking forced us to rethink the environments in which we worked and socialised, prolonged sitting should force us to rethink the structure of the working day itself. A short walk at lunch, standing during a phone call or simply getting up between meetings may sound like trivial adjustments. They are not. For modern workers, protecting health is not only about moving more before or after work. It is also about sitting less while work is happening.

Red Bull have had a difficult start to the season and Verstappen, who missed out on last year’s title to McLaren’s Lando Norris by two points, is ninth in the championship after three races with a best result of sixth.

Red Bull are introducing a major upgrade to their car for Miami, when the season restarts after a break enforced by the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix.

This was tested by Verstappen at Silverstone last Wednesday and Mekies said it would address “a fair chunk” of their shortcomings

“One thing is sure, we haven’t solved everything,” Mekies said. “But there is no doubt that progress has been made into giving something more consistent to our drivers.

“How does that make you fit in the classifications? It’s impossible to know. But in terms of us alone on the track, in terms of giving a more consistent product to our drivers, I’m confident we have made some progress. Do we know if we cracked everything? No, we know we didn’t crack everything yet.”

Stella – whose world champions have had a more successful start to the season, including a second-place finish for Oscar Piastri at the last race in Japan – said: “There was always the idea to deliver sort of a completely new car, especially from an aerodynamic upgrades point of view for the North American races.

“I would like to stress that this is what I would expect of most of our competitors so not necessarily is going to be a shift in the pecking order.

“It will be effectively just a check who has been able to add more performance within the same timeframe, and we also have some performance to recover if we look at Mercedes and to some extent Ferrari as well.”

Mekies said he believed about 0.3secs of the Red Bull’s one-second-a-lap deficit to front-runners Mercedes was accounted for by the new in-house Red Bull engine.

“Unfortunately, the first few races confirmed that we have a lot of work to do,” he said. “It’s 360. But certainly on the PU side as well, we can see that competition has a clear advantage. So we see them clearly ahead of us.

“It doesn’t remove anything to the amazing job that the guys have done. But it’s just confirmed that we have been evaluating ever since we put the car on the ground in Barcelona and in Bahrain. So fantastic starting point, unbelievable starting point. But it’s a competitive business.

“We are quite a few 10ths of a (second per) lap behind them in terms of performance. Even more so in terms of chassis performance, to be clear. And so we know we have a lot of work to do ahead of us.”

A teenage girl has been identified as being driven to end her own life because of domestic abuse for the first time, with ‘toxic influencers’ and violent porn blamed for a worrying rise in abuse among teenagers.

The number of domestic abuse victims taking their own lives has outstripped the number being killed by an intimate partner for the third consecutive year – and nearly doubled in the past year.

There were 150 suspected cases where abuse victims ended their lives in the year to March 2025 – up from 98 in the previous 12 months. The Domestic Homicide Project report recorded 80 intimate partner killings.

Teenagers aged 16 to 19 are now the fastest growing age group to report suffering domestic abuse, figures show.

And for the first time, the annual Crime Survey for England and Wales includes a case of suicide following domestic abuse where both the victim and suspect were aged under 18.

Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe, the national policing lead for domestic abuse, said access to violent pornography and ‘toxic influencers’ online may be fuelling abuse cases among teenagers.

She said: ‘People are now much more likely to access violent pornography which normalises violence and behaviour in a relationship, and particularly non-fatal strangulation, (which is) hugely dangerous.

‘We see the connection between the sort of sense of toxic influencers online and their sort of views that are promoted about women and women’s status in society.’

Last month, more than 60 Labour MPs wrote to the broadcasting regulator’s chief executive, Dame Melanie Dawes, on Tuesday, saying they are ‘gravely concerned’ about the risk posed to teenage boys online, such as ‘far-right political radicalisation’, violent pornography, and ‘misogynist influencers’.

There have been four reported cases of suicides where the victim was under 16 and the perpetrator was over 18 – three an adult family member, and one an intimate partner.

Tim Woodhouse, a suicide prevention programme manager who is undertaking a PhD examining domestic abuse-related suicides, told Metro: ‘Every suicide by a victim of domestic abuse is tragic, but there is extra pain and poignancy when someone so young dies.

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‘The rise in teenagers reporting domestic abuse is very concerning but it reinforces the need for additional effort and resources to go into prevention and early intervention. And that must include measures to keep these young people safe from suicide as well as safe from their perpetrators.’

In the five years of the annual Domestic Homicide Project, which analyses police recorded domestic homicides, 414 were intimate partner homicide, 227 were adult familial homicide, 553 were suicide following domestic abuse, 131 were unexpected deaths, 86 child deaths and 41 classed as other.

Mr Woodhouse said the rise in the number of domestic abuse-related suicides ‘is a national scandal that is largely being ignored’.

He repeated calls for a national task force specifically aimed at reducing the number, adding: ‘Without a co-ordinated response, our country’s attempts to reduce the numbers of these tragic deaths will continue to be piecemeal and ineffective.’

Campaigners also want a new law to make suicide following domestic abuse a specific criminal offence separate from manslaughter, to make it easier for juries to understand.

There have been two high profile cases involving suicides allegedly caused by abuse in the past 18 months which both resulted in verdicts of not guilty in relation to manslaughter charges.

Frank Mullane from support service Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse said: ‘We need a new law which separates suicide from domestic abuse, from manslaughter.

‘I’m speculating that the average juror sees manslaughter as maybe a punch-up in a car park, other types of killing.

‘I think if we separate suicide from domestic abuse, it will help educate the public.’

Mr Woodhouse told Metro there is a causal link between domestic abuse and suicide in some cases.

He said: ‘Suicide is always complicated, and for some people there may be other things that contribute to the suicide attempt, however for many victims the overwhelming nature of the abuse, which may have been going on for months and years, the pain from the physical and sexual abuse, the coercive control which leads to isolation from friends and family all adds up to feelings of hopelessness and entrapment which means that they believe suicide is the only escape.’

In the past five years, there have been 17 cases where domestic abuse charges have been brought after a victim took their own life, three of which investigated possible manslaughter.

There are expected to be seven more posthumous cases, and the number of these investigations is expected to rise.

No jury in England and Wales has ever convicted someone of manslaughter after a case of suicide involving domestic abuse.

In total, 1,452 deaths linked to domestic abuse were recorded over a five-year period, and 347 deaths in the year to March 2025.

This is an increase of 85 deaths from the previous year, most of which are suspected suicides following domestic abuse.

Police believe this is down to increased recording of such cases rather than a rise in the number of crimes being committed.

Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls Jess Phillips said: ‘Every life lost to domestic abuse is a devastating tragedy, and my thoughts are with families and loved ones left grieving.

‘I welcome this important report, which highlights the link between domestic abuse and suicide, and reinforces the need for tougher action to stop perpetrators causing harm.

‘Our Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy sets out how we are rooting out the causes of domestic abuse-related deaths and deploying the full power of the state to crack down on these vile crimes.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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A storyline is set to unfold for her character, Betsy Swain, and her co-star Liam McCheyne, who plays Dylan Wilson in the ITV soap

Coronation Street star Sydney Martin has confirmed she has a ‘busy summer’ ahead as a storyline is set to unfold for her character, Betsy Swain, and her co-star Liam McCheyne, who plays Dylan Wilson in the long-running show.

Actress Sydney Martin is best known for playing the teenager in the ITV soap, having joined back in 2024. Fans will recall that the teenage character first appeared on-screen as Sabrina Adetiba’s mate, before it was revealed that her mum is DS Lisa Swain.

She’s since been involved in a number of the soap’s biggest storylines in the last couple of years and she has more big scenes ahead as not only does Betsy discover the dead body of one of her neighbours on her mum and Carla Connor’s wedding day, it’s also been revealed that she’s set to be involved in an upcoming storyline for Dylan Wilson, who Betsy has had a subtle romance with on-screen.

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And Sydney has got some big scenes ahead, as not only does Betsy discover the dead body of one of her neighbours on her mum and Carla Connor’s wedding day, but the scenes are set to air this Friday (May 1).

But it’s also been revealed that she’s set to be involved in an upcoming storyline for Dylan Wilson, with whom Betsy has had a subtle romance on-screen. Previously speaking to Inside Soap, actor Liam confirmed: “It’s going to be quite a big 2026. I’ve got a nice storyline to get my teeth stuck into, which is great.”

Liam then continued to explain: “It’ll be quite a lot of work with Sydney [Martin, who plays Betsy]. It’s very coming of age. It’s a subject storyline, which is obviously Corrie’s speciality – it’s one thing the show is amazing at. So I’m very excited for that.”

Now, Sydney has told the publication that viewers can expect a mixture of emotions to unfold between the young couple. “Dylan and Betsy have been through a lot together,” she said. “There’s beautiful moments to come. They’re polar opposites; she’s this ticking time bomb that could go off at any time, and he’s quite grounded and sweet.

“That can create some quite funny scenes, because there’s that natural comedic element of them being so different, but also some beautiful ones. I’m also excited for Liam to get his chance to shine.” She later added: “I’ve been working hard, so I’m really excited for people to see it. It’s going to be a busy summer.”

Owen Martin, 21, was sentenced to three years after admitting wilful fire-raising at the Drumchapel home of Kelly “Bo” Green.

A gangland foot soldier who set fire to the family home of the partner of slain gangster Kevin ‘Gerbil’ Carroll was jailed today for three years.

Owen Martin, 21, fled after sparking the blaze at Kelly ‘Bo’ Green’s property in Glasgow’s Drumchapel on May 13 2025. Green, her 21-year-old son Konnor, his friend and three children were forced to evacuate in the middle of the night.

Martin was later snared following Operation Portaledge – a police investigation into a recent serious organised crime feud in Scotland.

Green is one of the daughter of late crime boss Jamie Daniel who died of cancer in 2016.

She is also the widow of Daniel crime enforcer ‘Gerbil’ who was gunned down in an Asda car park in Glasgow’s Robroyston in 2010.

Martin pleaded guilty to wilful fire raising to the danger of the lives of Kelly Green, Konnor Green, Stephen Jackson and three children.

Sheriff Andrew McIntyre told Martin at today’s sentencing: “This was an exceptionally serious offence.

“If you set fire to someone’s house in the middle of the night there is a real likelihood that the occupants in there can be adults or children.

“It is a quite shocking offence and an exceptionally serious offence.

“I have taken account of your age but that does not mean that you should not go to prison. It is so serious and the public need to be protected.”

Martin will also be put under supervision for one year upon his release from prison.

Glasgow Sheriff Court was told that the victims in this case were “well documented as having links to organised crime groups.”

Kelly Green went to bed around 11pm on the night of the incident. Her son Konnor, his friend Mr Jackson and three children aged 16, 11 and six were also in the property.

Around 1.40am, witness Ibrahim Alhawady drove past Green’s home.

The fiscal depute said: “He saw a man [Martin] throwing liquid from a petrol can to the side of the house.

“The witness noticed a fire had already taken hold and the liquid was caused the flames to spread.

The witness slowed his vehicle down and Martin to fled the scene towards Glenkirk Drive. Green then woke up to see an “orange glow” from her bedroom window.

The fiscal depute added: “She saw the fire take hold at the front from looking through the window.

“She exited the property and used a hose to extinguish the fire.”

Mr Alhawady then left the area when she saw Green’s son Konnor come out of the property to help his mother. He wrongly thought that Konnor had started the fire.

Green then got all the children evacuated from the property and put them into the back garden. She then called the fire brigade who then contacted the police due to a suspected accelerant being used.

When officers arrived, the fire had been extinguished and a search took place.

The fiscal depute said: “There was damage to the PVC living room windows.

“Officers also removed a plastic bottle from under the living room window.”

Taxi driver Mohammed Ashif stated that he collected Martin and a woman at 12.15am that night. He stated that Martin was carrying a green petrol can.

The driver asked Martin to remove the can due to its smell. The woman then threw the can into bushes on Glenkirk Drive. Officers later attended Martin’s home and arrested him.

Paul McCue, defending, told the sentencing: “He is genuinely remorseful for what he did and there is no getting around that this was a serious offence which he understands and has reflected on it.”

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As a shopping writer, I’m constantly being sent the latest products, or working my way through the archives to find the ‘best of’ for our readers. (Such a hard life, I know!).

While I test endless things every month, not everything is worth writing home (to you) about.

But there are often a few – nay, nearly 20 – products that stand out to me, and I can’t stop shouting to my partner about like I’m a walking advertisement.

If you’re looking for something to splash out on when your paycheque hits your account this month, here are this shopping writer’s favourite things she tested in April 2026.

Claudia Winkleman’s career doubt emerged when the Strictly Come Dancing host feared The Traitors BBC gamble would fail – but the show became one of her greatest successes

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Claudia Winkleman has disclosed that she once worried a significant TV opportunity might fail, confessing she told her husband, “I think it’s over,” during a period of uncertainty about the project.

The presenter, best known for hosting Strictly Come Dancing alongside Tess Daly, said she had substantial doubts before accepting what would become one of the most successful programmes of her career.

Looking back on the decision, she told Closer: “Traitors was not supposed to be what it was. I remember phoning my husband and saying, ‘I think it’s over’,” before explaining that she had been encouraged to watch an international version and take a risk.

That leap of faith ultimately proved worthwhile. The UK version of The Traitors, which debuted in 2022, rapidly became a success and has since enjoyed multiple successful seasons, alongside a celebrity spin-off. The programme has played a significant role in solidifying Winkleman’s status as one of the UK’s most popular television personalities.

Despite her achievements, she admitted the experience still leaves her feeling uncomfortable in an unexpected way, saying: “It makes me want to scratch myself, but in a weird way. I am incredibly lucky.”

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Away from the reality competition, Winkleman has continued to broaden her career. She recently fronted her own chat show, The Claudia Winkleman Show, on BBC One. While the programme marked a significant milestone, she acknowledged it received a mixed reception and described the role as “nerve-wracking” and something she initially “didn’t like,” reports the Mirror.

Despite her considerable prominence across British television, Winkleman remains reluctant to embrace the notion of celebrity. She insisted: “I don’t think I’m famous. I take the tube everywhere and I don’t go around singing the Strictly theme tune. I think it is a state of mind.”

Away from the cameras, she shares her life with her husband Kris Thykier and their three children: Jake, 23, Matilda, 19, and Arthur, 14. According to Winkleman, her family remain largely unbothered by her public profile. She joked that while she has encouraged them to embrace “nepo baby” labels, none of them have any interest in pursuing a career in the entertainment industry.

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Claudia and Tess spent 11 years at the helm of Strictly Come Dancing, establishing themselves as one of the show’s most recognisable and enduring presenting duos on Saturday night television.

Winkleman also revealed how she and Tess are planning to cope when the latest series launches on the BBC later this year. “Tess and I have already planned it,” she told Closer. “We’re having jacket potatoes and salmon. She’s coming to ours, she and [husband] Vern. I’m going to set her up with a nightie and we are going to watch and support.”