Pop singer Delta Goodrem is hoping to bring Eurovision glory to Australia for the first time as she competes in Vienna, Austria, with her song “Eclipse”.

The singer and actor, 41, is already a household name in her native Australia and known to millions around the world thanks to a starring role in the soap opera Neighbours, not to mention her debut album, the piano-based pop record Innocent Eyes.

Released in 2003, when Goodrem was just 18 years old, it remains one of the highest-selling Australian albums and spawned hit singles including “Born to Try” and “Lost Without You”. The album was also a major success in the UK, charting at number two.

Goodrem’s career was temporarily derailed, however, when she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, less than four months after Innocent Eyes was released.

“It changed the trajectory of my life completely,” Goodrem recalled in an interview last year. “The whole country was sitting outside my front door watching me and my family go through this thing the best we could,” she recalled.

Goodrem has also opened up in the past about how the effect the diagnosis and subsequent treatment had on her physical and mental health, as she underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

“[Losing my hair] was a hard one for me as I was still only a teenager, I barely ever wore makeup back then,” she said. “But when you lose your hair, including your eyebrows and lashes, your skin is pale and you have braces – you want to feel pretty and you start to get creative.”

Goodrem went on to make a full recovery and has since released a further six albums, including five number ones in Australia – her latest record, Bridge Over Troubled Dreams, came out in 2021 and also topped the Australian album chart.

But the album arrived after further health struggles, after Goodrem suffered paralysis of a nerve in her tongue while having her salivary gland removed in 2018, meaning she had to relearn how to speak and sing through rehabilitation and speech training.

“Anybody who is in the middle of going through a challenge, whether you’re in a cancer fight, whether you’ve gone through something traumatic, there’s many different phases and different moments you’re going to feel,” she said in an interview in 2021.

“It’s a step-by-step process. It’s the first realisation. Then it’s the journey of, ‘OK, this is happening’.”

The singer spoke of how she managed to turn the trauma she went through into an empowering moment: “It really was a reset moment in my life,” she recalled. “It happened just before the whole world went into this moment of reset.”

Read our Q&A with Goodrem below.

Hi Delta, how are you feeling about representing Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest?

“It’s truly an honour. Eurovision is one of the most iconic global music stages, and to represent Australia is something I feel incredibly proud of. There’s a real sense of excitement – it’s a moment to connect, to share music, and to bring a piece of Australia to the world.”

Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your song, ‘Eclipse’?

“⁠⁠‘Eclipse’ is about those rare, powerful moments in life where everything aligns – where love, timing, and connection feel almost cosmic. It explores light and dark, and the idea that even in moments of shadow, there is something beautiful forming. It’s both intimate and expansive – a song about hope, transformation, and the magic that can happen when two worlds meet. Only love exists when we eclipse!”

What would it mean to you to win for Australia?

“⁠It would be incredibly special. More than anything, it would be a moment shared with everyone who has supported me and believed in the music. To bring that home for Australia on such a global stage would be something I’d carry with me forever but regardless of the outcome, I already feel grateful to be part of something that celebrates music in such a powerful, unifying way.”

Sir Keir Starmer is fighting to save his increasingly threatened premiership as he faces mounting calls to resign over a bruising set of local elections.

The prime minister said he took responsibility for the results, which saw the Labour Party lose almost 1,500 councillor seats, but insisted he would not walk away.

He has faced relentless criticism of his leadership since he took office in July 2024, compounded by a string of U-turns and, more recently, the impact of the Peter Mandelson security vetting scandal.

The elections were widely touted as judgement day for the prime minister, and he was hit by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK snatching councils, some of which had been Labour for generations, in northern England, while Zack Polanski’s Green Party lured voters away from him in former urban strongholds, including taking control of some London authorities.

On Monday, Sir Keir gave a make-or-break speech intended to avert any leadership challenge and reassert his authority, but it was described by rebel backbencher Catherine West as “too little, too late”, and dozens of Labour MPs called for the prime minister to stand down or to provide a timetable to ensure an orderly transition of power.

Now cabinet ministers have encouraged Sir Keir to consider his position, opening a window for some rumoured Labour leadership candidates – some of whom are said to have been planning their challenges for months – to finally strike.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has been widely considered the most popular candidate, and allies say he has a credible plan to return as a sitting MP, a prerequisite for the top job.

Sir Keir’s former deputy Angela Rayner is also a frontrunner, alongside the current health secretary Wes Streeting.

Here, The Independent looks at each of the potential leadership candidates, while readers can also share their thoughts:

Andy Burnham

Popular among Labour MPs, party members and the general public, the mayor of Greater Manchester has been hinting at a leadership bid for months.

Recent YouGov polling puts Mr Burnham far ahead of any other Labour figure in popularity polls, with 34 per cent of Britons thinking he’d do a better job than Sir Keir.

Last year, Mr Burnham repeatedly failed to rule out a Labour leadership bid and has been regularly tipped as the leading candidate to take over should Sir Keir’s position as prime minister become untenable.

He was the focus of such rumours at the Labour Party conference last September, when he revealed that dozens of MPs were privately urging him to challenge the prime minister.

He is currently unable to launch an official bid as he is not a sitting MP, and has not made a public statement since Labour’s devastating defeat in the local elections.

Earlier this year, tensions came to a head when a parliamentary seat became available in the North West constituency of Gorton and Denton.

Mr Burnham put himself forward to run for Labour in the historically safe seat, but was blocked by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

Despite the government insisting the move was down to the potential cost of a Manchester mayoral election, critics accused Sir Keir and his allies of preventing the candidacy for factional reasons and out of fear of a leadership challenge.

However, allies say he has a plan to return as an MP. And his team is reported to have lined up an “impressive” candidate to replace him as mayor – potentially removing Sir Keir’s reason to block him.

Angela Rayner

Rumours about the Ashton-under-Lyne MP’s ambitions have been circling from the moment she resigned from Sir Keir’s cabinet last September, when it was revealed she had underpaid stamp duty on her Brighton flat.

Once the prime minister’s No 2, Rayner is popular on the soft left of the party and has been named as one of the MPs most likely to stage a coup.

Earlier this year, she launched what was widely seen as her clearest challenge to Sir Keir, when she warned Labour is “running out of time” to deliver change and cannot “go through the motions in the face of decline”.

Rumours of a joint bid with Andy Burnham were sparked after she met with the Greater Manchester mayor amid rumblings of a challenge to Sir Keir.

Working with the Greater Manchester mayor could prove essential for Ms Rayner, who is trailing behind him in popularity polls, with only 15 per cent of voters believing she’d do a better job than Sir Keir.

But there have been mixed signals about whether the former deputy prime minister wanted to oust Sir Keir altogether, or just rejoin his cabinet.

In December, the prime minister described Ms Rayner as “hugely talented” and said he would like to see her return to his front bench.

And in what was seen as a last-ditch attempt to secure his position ahead of the elections, Sir Keir reportedly offered Rayner a spot back in his cabinet.

However, her intervention on Sunday appeared to show support for Mr Burnham, when she told the prime minister that blocking the mayor’s bid to stand in Gorton and Denton was a mistake.

In a stark warning to Sir Keir, she added: “Labour exists to make working people better off. That is not happening fast enough, and it needs to change, now.”

Either way, it is unlikely she will be able to make a move until after the investigation into her tax affairs has been settled, which is expected to be in the coming weeks.

Wes Streeting

The health secretary is considered to be the most likely candidate to replace Sir Keir from within the sitting cabinet.

He is understood to have the backing of enough Labour MPs to launch a leadership bid, having recruited more than 81 MPs – the minimum required to trigger a leadership election.

Sir Keir was reportedly alerted to Mr Streeting’s intentions when a Downing Street staff member was accidentally texted details of his bid, including the “five pillars” of his campaign and his “PFG”, meaning plan for government.

In the centre-right of the party, he is a charismatic cabinet minister who is able to connect with the public.

Chatter about a potential leadership bid grew louder towards the end of last year, amid a briefing war targeting the health secretary over his perceived ambitions to succeed Sir Keir.

He has previously voiced his concerns about the direction of the government, and hit out at a “toxic culture” in No 10 when the briefings against him were made public in November.

Earlier this year, as questions around Sir Keir’s future reached fever pitch, the health secretary took the controversial decision to publish communications between himself and Lord Mandelson, which contained severe criticism of the PM’s economic and Middle East policies.

The publication broke collective responsibility and would normally lead to a sacking, but Mr Streeting justified it by saying it was necessary to deal with “smears” that had been made about his relationship with the disgraced former Labour peer.

The main obstacle facing Mr Streeting is the perception among some Labour factions that he is too far to the right of the party, and the general feeling that he does not have enough backing to launch a successful bid.

His public popularity ratings are also low, with only 13 per cent of voters thinking he’d do a better job than Sir Keir.

Ed Miliband

Ed Miliband has emerged as an unexpected contender to be the prime minister, more than 10 years since he led the party to defeat in the 2015 general election.

But in his time away from the leadership, the energy secretary has carved a niche for himself as the party’s top advocate for green energy and net zero.

Surprisingly popular among young people on social media, speculation has been rife that Mr Miliband is preparing an attempt to make a comeback as leader.

The recent Mandelson scandal has seen him grow increasingly critical of the government, telling broadcasters last week that he had raised concerns about the appointment with David Lammy at the time.

A Miliband supporter told The Independent recently: “He has the energy and enthusiasm. He is loved by younger members of the party. He is a new man from when he was last leader.”

Despite the noise, Mr Miliband has denied he is eyeing a leadership bid, and polling also suggests only 13 per cent of voters think he’d do a better job than the current prime minister.

Police have received multiple calls from residents in the area find metal ball bearings

Police are investigating “several suspicious incidents” in which metal ball bearings were used to damage a car and a property along a street in Haverfordwest. A blue Range Rover Evoque was targeted along with a home on Glenfields Road.

Damage has been caused to the wingmirror of the vehicle and officers suspect metal ball bearings may have been used to cause the damage. The damage is believed to have taken place sometime between 11.10am and 11.20am on Sunday, May 10 morning.

Two days later on Tuesday, May 12 at around 2.30pm the window of a property on Glenfields Road was also reported to have been hit by a suspected metal ball bearing. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here

Officers from Dyfed-Powys Police are appealing for more information regarding the two incidents as they continue to investigate.

A spokesperson for the force said: “Officers are investigating reports of criminal damage on Glenfields Road, Haverfordwest, following several suspicious incidents reported in the area.

“Local officers continue to engage with residents in the area, following a number of calls reporting the discovery of ball bearings in the Glenfields Road and Old Hakin Road area of Haverfordwest.

“If you have witnessed anything, or have any information that can support our investigation, please get in touch. Quote ref: 26*375605”

Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice

Suren Thiru, chief economist for the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales), said: “This strong first quarter is probably the high point for the economy this year with output likely to halve in the second quarter as surging energy costs suffocate activity, despite a short-term boost from firms stockpiling in anticipation of shortages and price rises.”

Asked if she was worried about the impact of a potential leadership race on the economic policies she has been working on these past few years, she said: “Labour MPs have got an important decision to make today, but the numbers show that the economy is growing and that when we entered this conflict, our economy was growing strongly because of the decisions that I have made as chancellor, we shouldn’t put that at risk.”

How to respond when kids swear at you