[17/08/2025, 16:03:48] Pat McFadden: Yes of course. I see Keir will now be at WH meeting with Z (Zelensky).

[17/08/2025, 16:06:16] Peter Mandelson : Yes. Morgan is coming with him. The media prep is interesting. Completely reductionist for Keir. Want to avoid any encounter with journos that might involve him answering a question. No sense of opportunity for personal projection. Just avoid all risk. Always the same.

17/08/2025, 17:35:25] Pat McFadden: I spoke to him. It’s a bit of a whirlwind. This external strategy unit idea has come from a lack of belief that good people will come in to number 10 and it’s hard to get the bad ones to leave.

[17/08/2025, 17:35:41] Pat McFadden: I’m going to see him when he comes back.

[17/08/2025, 17:40:26] Peter Mandelson : I told him he needs an instrument/entity to recruit top people but I fear he is using excuse to keep people because he knows Keir won’t fire them.

[18/08/2025, 13:07:11] Pat McFadden: Let me know how it goes?

[18/08/2025, 14:12:09] Peter Mandelson : We have a whole lot of No10 keystone cops coming, including Morgan, falling over themselves and complaining they won’t all be in the Oval (none of us will be).

Molly Fisher’s project, The 33rd County, explores Irish diaspora and long-distance nationalism within Coatbridge.

A snap-happy Coatbridge student hopes she can bring her photography exhibition to her home town, after using it as inspiration for her work.

Molly Fisher’s project, The 33rd County, explores Irish diaspora and long-distance nationalism within Coatbridge.

Her images of locals expressing their Irish heritage are on display, alongside work from her fellow BA photography students, as part of Edinburgh Napier University’s (ENU) 2026 Degree Show.

The 23-year-old says studying in Edinburgh led her to see the cultural rituals she’d grown up with in a new light.

Molly said: “My style is documentary photography, working with people to tell their stories. I really enjoy getting to see into their world.

“In second year I did a study on football fans, then last year I did a project about an Irish dancer.

“When I came to do my final project, I realised that a lot of my themes overlap – that I had been reflecting experiences of growing up in my hometown.

“There were so many things that I only realised since I’ve been in Edinburgh aren’t as normal as I assumed.

“I thought maybe there’s something interesting here that I could dive into further.

“This project made me see Coatbridge in a different light, realising that it isn’t the norm. I found myself looking for the strange little things that you maybe didn’t notice before. I had to take a step back.

“I think it’s given me an admiration for people in the town, that people feel so strongly about their heritage.”

Molly’s final display is on show at ENU’s Merchiston campus until June 5, and includes a custom-made book.

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In it, a foreword written by local writer Des Dillon refers to a “cultural time capsule” in Coatbridge, where people preserve “a version of Ireland that no longer exists”.

The images show individual and group expressions of Irish heritage, alongside reminders of Coatbridge’s post-industrial legacy of iron works and coal mining.

Molly hopes she can put her work on display in the town in future, to thank those who took part in her project.

She added: “People feel so strongly about their culture that they want to let you in and tell you their stories. They’re often happy that someone is interested and cares.

“I got myself into things that were happening that I didn’t know about. For example, there’s an Irish music group that I didn’t know about who play in my local hall.

“I found myself sitting in the corner of the room thinking I can’t believe this is what I’m getting to do.

“I’m hoping that I can put on an exhibition in Coatbridge so that people can see it.

“I wouldn’t have been able to make it work unless people had let me in, so I would like them to be able to come and have a look.”

The 2026 Edinburgh Napier University Degree Show is on public display at its Merchiston campus this week; you can find out more about it here

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Two sites in Cambridgeshire have been listed on the Environment Agency’s ‘high priority’ watch list

Two sites where waste is being dumped in Cambridgeshire have been named on the “high priority” watch list. Sites in Alconbury and Brampton have both been included on the Environment Agency’s “high priority” list for “causing concern to local communities”.

The list, published on May 22, has 117 sites in England which the Environment Agency has identified as a “concern”. According to the watch list, the site in Alconbury, a village near Huntingdon, has had approximately 2,500 tonnes of baled waste identified.

Meanwhile, Brampton, near Huntingdon, currently houses around 1,920 tonnes of construction and demolition waste. The level of detail published in the watch list has been restricted to avoid prejudicing ongoing enquiries and associated enforcement action.

The agency has urged members of the public to report any suspicious activity involving waste. Anyone with information about any of the sites included in the watchlist is asked to report it.

Reports can be made to the Environment Agency’s incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60 or to Crimestoppers via 0800 555 111.

The Environment Agency said: “We are stepping up our action on waste crime and will act early to address illegal activity before it becomes established. As part of this commitment, we are publishing this watchlist of sites that are causing concerns within local communities – enabling you to see where we are working now.”

That we are living through a loneliness epidemic at a time when people have never been more digitally connected is one of the great paradoxes of modern life.

In 2023, the year social media engagement reportedly peaked, the World Health Organization declared loneliness a “global public health concern”. The irony was hard to miss: just as people appeared to be more digitally connected than ever, many of the places and habits that once brought them together in real life were being weakened. Remote working had reshaped daily life, religious attendance had declined across much of the west, the cost of living crisis had made socialising harder, and third places – from pubs and libraries to youth clubs and community centres – were closing or struggling to survive.

However, that’s just part of the story. Over the years, Positive News has reported on the many hopeful initiatives that have sprung up to tackle loneliness – from the rise of communal dining and the Men’s Sheds movement, to intergenerational nurseries and talking benches.

Now we’re turning to you, our readers, to find out what you do to nurture meaningful human connections in an increasingly disconnected world. No act is too small. It could be something as simple as being part of a book club, walking group or cooking meals for others. Or it could be something bigger, like volunteering or tending a community garden. Even the simple act of going to live music can feel like a rebellion against creeping isolation. More than one of our team find community spirit in the moshpit. 

Tell us how you forge human connections in the form below. We will publish our favourite answers in a forthcoming editorial. We can’t promise to print them all, but we will read them.

Main image: Austin Loveing

Why are the 2026 Tube strikes happening?

1) RMT

2) TfL

3) ASLEF

Manchester City midfielder Rodri says he will wait until after the World Cup to sort out his future at the club amid links to Real Madrid.

The Spain international has a year left on his contract at City and has previously indicated he would like to return to play in his homeland at some stage.

Rodri, 29, has emerged as a potential transfer target should Real Madrid presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme get elected.

Riquelme is challenging incumbent Florentino Perez in this weekend’s election.

“With a World Cup ahead, my responsibility is to stay focused,” Rodri told a news conference.

“Anything related to my future will wait until after the World Cup.”

Rodri joined City from Atletico Madrid in 2019 and has played a key role in the club’s recent success, winning four Premier League four titles and the Champions League once.

He won the Ballon d’Or in 2024 although he struggled with injuries since he suffered a cruciate ligament tear in September 2024.

Rodri said he will not “give too much importance” to rumours about his future as it “part of the job”.

“When a player is approaching the final stage of his contract, it’s normal for names to be mentioned,” he added.

“I’m very calm, I know exactly where I stand, and I’ll tell you that perhaps if there hadn’t been a World Cup, things might be different now.”

One of the Netflix series co-creators has explained the casting behind surprise cameo

The creators of Netflix’s popular series are hoping an unexpected star will pave the way for additional episodes.

All instalments of ‘The Four Seasons’ are now streaming on the platform and have proved an instant success with audiences. Fans have already revealed how they’ve binged the latest series in a single day, with some remaining awake until the small hours to complete all eight episodes.

Following its launch last year, the programme has returned with its second series. Continuing from a twist ending, the show once more centres on a group of married companions who habitually holiday together throughout the year.

However, the group’s dynamics have undergone significant transformation. Following a challenging year, they maintain their tradition of shared holidays – this time accompanied by a baby.

According to its synopsis, ‘The Four Seasons’ resumes with the core group, including Kate (portrayed by Tina Fey), Jack (Will Forte), Anne (Kerri Kenney-Silver), Danny (Colman Domingo), Claude (Marco Calvani), and Ginny (Erika Henningsen), as they travel from the comfortable familiarity of the Jersey shore and upstate New York to the breathtaking scenery of Italy, reports the Mirror.

*Warning – below contains major spoilers for ‘The Four Seasons’ series 2 finale*

Series co-creator Tracey Wigfield, who scripts episodes alongside Fey and Lang Fisher, has discussed the finale and its potential to pave the way for a third series. While Netflix has not yet greenlit a third season at the time of writing, the closing moments of season two’s final episode see Anne meeting her new Italian neighbour.

To her astonishment, he shares the name Gianpiero – the very moniker she’d invented for a fictitious boyfriend when speaking to former flame Mark Brett. What proves even more startling for audiences is that this character is played by none other than David Tennant.

The Scottish performer is renowned for his turn as Doctor Who, alongside appearances in Good Omens, Extras, Broadchurch, Jessica Jones and Des amongst numerous other credits. The circumstances surrounding Tennant’s character’s presence in the Italian town remain unexplained.

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Despite bearing an Italian name, he appears to retain his natural accent. It has now emerged that he represented dream casting for the show’s creators, who harbour hopes that his character might be developed further as a potential new travelling companion for the group in future episodes.

Wigfield told Deadline: “Tina, the first person she said was, ‘Well, someone like David Tennant, like a David Tennant kind of guy, as her (Anne’s) neighbour. We were so thrilled that we went to him first and he said yes. He flew in and we shot it – it was just the one scene – so we shot it in one day, and he’s so lovely and he looks so good with Kerri.”

She continued to hint that they hoped this closing moment would leave viewers craving additional episodes, saying: “Anne obviously has been on a journey in Season 1 and then Season 2 as well, you know, she’s trying to be Anne 2.0 and have this sort of personal renaissance, but it’s not going great.

“So there was something really exciting when we were thinking about a cliffhanger for a possible Season 3 of having a romantic cliffhanger, and someone that you would get so excited to see more stories with.”

The Four Seasons is streaming on Netflix.

The Duke of Wellington in Chew Moor has launched regular Friday food events after shutting its kitchen before Christmas because it was no longer financially viable.

It’s soon to host a series of food truck events planned throughout June and beyond.

Inside the pub (Image: Sophie McGrath)

The pub has already hosted Dagi Pizza Van each last Friday of the past three months, and is now expanding the programme with a different food offering planned each week.

Sophie McGrath, landlady, said: “People wanted the food back.

“We are a community-based pub and everything we do is for them. It’s best when everyone is together, and food brings people together.”

The latest event will see SPUDDIES visit the pub from 5pm on this Friday [June 5] serving loaded jacket potatoes and shawarma wraps.

A book club. (Image: Sophie McGrath)

The food truck is the first of several planned throughout June as the pub increases the number and variety of visiting vendors.

Ms McGrath said: “People are really excited. They love the pizza guy that comes, he always sells out.”

Westhoughton High School’s reunion at the Duke. (Image: Sophie McGrath)

A barbecue is planned for June 12, while Dagi Pizza Van is due to return on June 19.

A Greek food vendor is also scheduled to visit on June 26 as part of the pub’s Foodie Fridays programme.

Ms McGrath said: “We shut the kitchen before Christmas because it wasn’t making enough money.

“But people wanted the food back, so we started getting food trucks on Fridays in the car park.”