Corin and Tricia Dalby from Bolton are backing the Every Hospice Matters campaign, which calls for sustainable funding for hospice care to become a national priority.

The petition has already gathered more than 95,400 signatures, gaining more than 30,000 in the past week alone.

Mr Dalby, who runs the social enterprise Box Power CIC with his wife Tricia, said: “We are now so close.

“More than 95,400 people have taken the time to read this petition and make up their own minds, and tens of thousands have shared it with others.

“My hope is simply that people across Bolton will read it too and decide for themselves whether they want to add their name.

“If enough people do, we could go to Downing Street with 100,000 voices behind us.”

Support has come from MPs, peers, and families who have shared personal stories of how hospice care, or the lack of it, has affected their lives.

Some described loved ones spending their final days in hospital wards due to unavailable hospice beds, while others spoke about the comfort and care provided when hospice support was accessible.

Mr Dalby said: “This isn’t really about a number on a screen.

“Behind every signature is a person who has stopped, read what is happening and decided it matters to them.

“Bolton has always been a town that rallies around its hospices and its most vulnerable people.

“I’d love to see whether, together, we can help close that final gap.”

The petition remains open for signatures.

It can be viewed at https://www.change.org/Everyhospicematters.

Dolly Parton‘s nephew and longtime security chief Bryan Seaver has been dismissed from his position overseeing her properties, less than a month after the death of the music icon at 80.

Seaver on Wednesday received a notice reviewed by TMZ that he and his security organizations – which provided protection for Parton’s Nashville home, museum and a warehouse – were being replaced by another company.

Insiders told the outlet that they believed Parton’s manager Danny Nozell and Pinnacle Bank were responsible for the decision to terminate him and his employees.

A new security team was deployed to the locations previously overseen by Seaver’s companies on Wednesday after the termination notice was issued.

Sources close to Seaver said he and his associates had been ‘dismayed by the unexpected and, so far, unexplained actions’ carried out in the wake of Parton’s  August 25 passing.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Bryan Seaver, Danny Nozell and representatives for Pinnacle Bank for further comment on the story.

Dolly Parton’s nephew and longtime security chief Bryan Seaver has been dismissed from his position overseeing her properties, less than a month after the death of the music icon at 80 

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‘We remain unshakably resolved to fulfill her final directive to protect her family, and we refuse to be intimidated by those whose actions we believe are being taken in bad faith,’ Seaver’s camp told TMZ.

His camp told the outlet they believed the actions had been taken ‘with the intent to profit from the life of someone who willingly gave so much.’

According to the outlet, the notice issued to Seaver indicated that the DP Dean Trust had been overseeing Parton’s business and properties in the wake of her passing.

Seaver retains a personal interest in her trust moving forward, according to the report.

Seaver, whose mother Cassie is Parton’s sister, had been appointed by the late Jolene singer to reveal her death in a public statement.

Following Dolly’s August 25 passing following a battle with cancer, Seaver had been seen in a clip in which he revealed the sad news.

‘Dolly has lived in the light, and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by [late husband] Carl, her parents, and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens,’ Seaver said in the emotional clip.

In the clip, Seaver noted that his father Larry had held the security position before him.

Seaver on Wednesday received a notice reviewed by TMZ that he and his security organizations – which provided protection for Parton’s Nashville home, museum and a warehouse – were being replaced by another company; Seaver seen accompanying Parton to a Jimmy Kimmel Live appearance in 2016 

Sources close to Seaver said he and his associates had been ‘dismayed by the unexpected and, so far, unexplained actions’ carried out in the wake of Parton’s August 25 passing; he’s seen above with the singer in 2017 in NYC

Parton pictured at the ACM Awards in Las Vegas in March of 2022 

Seaver is pictured as a child with Parton in a photo he posted on Instagram

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He said that he had been her security head for the past ‘two decades,’ and had been working for her over the past four decades.

‘I first went on the road with Dolly as a kid, getting a taste of the road life in the early 1980s,’ Seaver said. ‘Dolly opened doors not just for me, but for her entire family to reach the potential we didn’t even know was possible.

‘Dolly also opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians and dreamers from every walk of life and across every continent. By her example, we believed that anything was possible.’

He added, ‘She never saw a door she couldn’t open, and the doors she opened made and changed history. My family and I have shared a lifetime of beautiful memories with Dolly, but so have you.’

Parton has been well-remembered in the near month since her passing, which included an expansive tribute at the Primetime Emmy Awards last week which featured Reba McEntire and Sally Field.

Nashville International Airport will be renamed in Parton’s memory following a vote from the Metro Nashville Airport Authority Board of Commissioners weeks back.

Operation Warm Welcome is the cosy name for the British effort to help thousands of terrified Afghans after they won sanctuary in the UK following the Taliban takeover of their country five years ago.

We were told that those rescued during a dramatic airlift included interpreters and other loyal Afghans who, for 20 years, had worked for British forces first dispatched to fight the ‘War on Terror’ after the 9/11 attacks.

By 2021 that mission was over. The West’s battle against the Taliban was lost when the Americans abruptly pulled out. In Britain, people from all walks of life prepared to do their bit for the newly arrived Afghans who were hosted over two years in 82 hotels as they waited for free houses.

Many volunteers would have read about their plight through the Daily Mail’s award-winning Betrayal Of The Brave campaign, which focused exclusively on those courageous Afghans who had helped British forces.

Yet now a shocking picture is emerging about Operation Warm Welcome. It is a dismal portrait of gross Whitehall profligacy, naivety, carelessness and even blatant cheating, which has not only cost the British taxpayer billions of pounds and will continue to burden us financially for decades to come, but has also made it more difficult for those Afghans who helped Britain in Kabul to claim asylum legitimately.

Our investigation has revealed that many of the incoming Afghans were not vetted properly during the hectic evacuation from their country or upon their arrival in the UK.

The Daily Mail has learned that, far from all being loyal interpreters, countless numbers had no connection to the British Armed Forces but invented a back-story or paid local officials a going rate of $5,000 (£3,700) to get a place on the flights. Then, courtesy of the Government’s Operation Warm Welcome, an umbrella title for the various Afghan resettlement schemes, they were allowed to start a new life here.

Astonishingly, some of the rescued Afghans, presumed to be arriving for the first time, already had homes in Britain. They were resettled (and given second houses) after cannily rushing to Afghanistan before the capital Kabul fell to the Taliban. There, we are told by our sources, they coolly collected up family members before the entire clan was flown to Britain in the airlift.

A hotel manager, Jamie Rossiter, has sensationally estimated that just two families among the 160 he got to know personally over two years at his Buckinghamshire hotel had ‘provable’ links to British forces. He made it his job to befriend and talk to his Afghan guests after they arrived in 2021.

‘That low number is based on what they told me. They said they were painters and decorators . . . photocopier repair men, or in random jobs [unconnected to the British operation in Afghanistan],’ he has revealed in an explosive video interview with social commentator and former charity worker Nick Buckley, which is now online and has been watched by thousands.

Jamie, 48, who reported his concerns to the Home Office at the time, adds: ‘We were told [by the Government] they were translators, guides, people that had worked with the British forces . . . so we were quite happy to welcome them. It took a little time for my staff to come to terms with the idea that most of these people didn’t need help and were often richer than them.’

During our own investigation, we have spoken to members of the British Afghan community and those who worked in hotels scattered across the Midlands and southern Britain that took in the newcomers. They have pointed to gaping holes in Operation Warm Welcome, which one hotel manager described ‘like a gold rush from start to finish’.

Everyone involved seemed to be thinking ‘how can we make money out of this’, from taxi drivers taking Afghans to appointments who were then reimbursed by the Government to local councils that received special grants to settle the new arrivals, and the guests themselves.

We have been given a window into the ugly side of Operation Warm Welcome. One whistleblower revealed that some Afghan wives were kept in purdah by their husbands from the moment they arrived.

‘They stayed in their rooms, were not allowed to share communal areas or eat in the hotel restaurant with their menfolk in line with customs they imported from their homeland. Some of the women I never saw at all during their entire stay. They even took their meals in the bedrooms,’ an informant told us. Racism reared its head, too. We have learned that Indian heritage cleaners were upset when Afghans at one hotel told the management that they only wanted a ‘white woman’ tending their rooms. In another case, Afghans demanded the sacking of the entire hotel security team because they were Pakistani – ‘an ethnicity they looked down on,’ said a whistleblower.

Police were called to some hotels to investigate incidents of sickening domestic abuse against wives by husbands, while ‘feral’ teenagers ran amok as their Afghan fathers shrugged their shoulders, telling staff, police and child social workers: ‘There is nothing we can do to control them because we cannot hit our children in your country.’

We have heard reports of bored Afghan men whiling away time by buying porn videos, alcohol and gambling scratch cards in breach of their Islamic faith. Others used free taxi rides to the JobCentre, where they were meant to be searching for work, to peel off to the nearby shopping mall.

Social commentator and former charity worker Nick Buckley revealed in an interview that many Afghans were unconnected to the operation in Afghanistan

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‘They abused British generosity. After a while, the penny dropped at the Home Office and free taxi rides for guests were restricted in most hotels,’ said an Afghan interpreter whom we contacted after being told he had regularly visited the guests to help them with English. Upon arrival, all the Afghans were granted indefinite leave to remain, which allowed them from day one to claim benefits and to work. Local JobCentre staff were sent into the hotels to help them seek tax-paying employment.

‘They preferred the black market, taking shifts as taxi drivers or for food delivery firms. At my hotel, a black van would pick them up in the morning and return them in the evening,’ said one manager, who was surprised to open his front door and find one of his guests, working as a food courier, handing him the takeaway meal that he had just ordered.

To add insult to injury, the Daily Mail has been told that some Afghan families routinely rejected offers of a free house from the Home Office because they ‘didn’t fancy’ the area it was in or because they could save up benefit payments by staying put in the hotel for as long as possible.

One family is believed to have squirrelled away £30,000 in one year from the benefits on offer, which included Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Personal Independence Payment for any resettled Afghans suffering from mental health issues.

‘They also turned down rural homes, hoping to get a house in a city centre near the mosque, the halal shops, their own communities. Some gamed the system by flatly refusing private houses and choosing social housing in the hope they would get the “right to buy” the property at a subsidised price further down the line,’ said our informants.

An extraordinary story told by Jamie Rossiter on the video concerns an Afghan man who is thought to have lived in Britain before the airlift.

He turned his nose up at a free Home Office house in Manchester for himself, his wife and children who were with him at Jamie’s hotel in Buckinghamshire. It transpired he already had a first wife with children living on the south coast. ‘This man didn’t want to shuttle between his two families because of the long journey.’

It is all a far cry from the image portrayed by the Government of the time. It described those ‘called forward’ for evacuation as ‘the Afghans who stood side by side with us in conflict’.

The then Prime Minister Boris Johnson added later, with a flourish: ‘We will never forget the brave sacrifices made by Afghans who chose to work with us, at great risk to themselves. We owe them a huge debt.’

A Home Office factsheet called ‘Warm Welcome in Action’ was released in late 2021, which said £200million had already been committed to help Afghans rebuild their lives, find work, pursue education and integrate in local areas. This money included extra funding for the NHS, schools and local councils during what the Government described as ‘one of the UK’s most ambitious resettlement schemes ever’.

The vexing question of how many rescued Afghans really had links to our British forces remains shrouded in mystery

It all seemed to be running like clockwork. Yet it was the charity volunteers, who had sprang into action when the Afghans first arrived, running fundraisers and cricket matches, whom Mr Rossiter says became disillusioned first.

‘It warmed my heart that so many neighbours living close to my hotel turned up with bags of toiletries and new kids’ toys for our guests,’ he says in the video.

‘Our local charity got frustrated when the Afghans were taken to special warehouses to choose clothes and things. They took all the bundles of clothes and then threw them around my hotel and out of the windows. I had to call the charity, which ended up having to get someone with a van to come to pick up what had been given to them.’

The vexing question of how many rescued Afghans really had links to our British forces remains shrouded in mystery. At the peak of military operations, between 2011 and 2012, there were, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), ‘roughly’ 630 local interpreters employed to assist 9,500 servicemen based in the country.

During the entire two-decade conflict, 7,000 local citizens were hired by the British, half as front-line interpreters and the rest as drivers, cooks or administrative staff who were at risk when the Taliban took over.

However, last year, Luke Pollard, Labour’s Minister for the Armed Forces, admitted to the House of Commons that it was ‘not possible’ to provide a tally of those who had been employed by the British during their Afghanistan operations.

This provoked a rebuke from Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, now shadow minister for Defence Procurement, who said that the Afghan resettlement schemes were open to exploitation by ‘criminal, terrorist or hostile’ state actors.

He remarked that if the MoD was uncertain which of the thousands of rescued people worked for the British then it ‘presumably also does not know who they are or what they were doing in Afghanistan [before their arrival here]’.

There was a further bombshell when the Daily Mail successfully exposed a High Court super-injunction hiding a further – this time secret – airlift of Afghans to Britain. This followed an accidental leak in 2022 of a MoD email containing the names of those still applying to come here to escape the Taliban.

A year later, when part of the list appeared on the internet, the then Conservative government was granted the ban, which barred anyone from revealing even its existence or face imprisonment.

The super-injunction was lifted under pressure from the media in July 2025 by which time 900 principal applicants with 3,600 family members on the list had been brought into the UK undercover, at an extra cost of £850million.

This means the total number of resettled Afghans is now approaching 36,000, with the vast majority able to claim state benefits and free or subsidised housing for the rest of their lives.

Some were even given a leg up by a senior figure inside the civil service. The Daily Mail has discovered that two families put on the resettlement flights and given houses worth £850,000 combined in East Sussex were helped by a relative who works for the Home Office in Scotland.

Little wonder that the suspicions linger. ‘One older couple came in and immediately got a state pension and were given a bungalow,’ a hotel whistleblower told us this week. ‘It is very unlikely the husband, given his age, worked for the British forces. They are never going to give anything back to Britain.’

With that, he gave a desperate sigh about Operation Warm Welcome. ‘I think that the trusting British public have been played like a fiddle,’ he said.

Mr Burnham told journalists: “As I have said, politicians say things throughout their career, but now the important thing is to focus on the moment you are in, and I did say to the president in our first phone call, I said, ‘Mr President, Manchester isn’t some town’, I said, ‘This is Manchester’.

A 29-year-old man armed with a shotgun opened fire on a police officer stationed outside an Ontario synagogue during Yom Kippur, triggering a shootout involving as many as 30 shots, the province’s police watchdog said Monday.

The gunfire left the man with life-threatening injuries and seriously wounded a veteran of the Belleville Police Service, whose condition had stabilized as he recovered in intensive care.

Kristy Denette, a spokesperson for the Special Investigations Unit, said nearby vehicles and homes were riddled with bullet holes. There was no forensic confirmation Monday as to whether the synagogue itself was hit.

Denette said the scene appeared to stretch about half a block from the Sons of Jacob Synagogue.

“It would have been quite, quite the scene indeed,” Denette said.

The Special Investigations Unit said preliminary evidence showed the man arrived in a truck around 7 p.m. on Sunday and fired at an officer outside the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, about 110 miles east of Toronto. The officer returned fire before a second officer arrived and also fired.

Belleville police Deputy Chief Sheri Meeks identified the alleged shooter as Sean Ward, of the nearby city of Quinte West, and the officer as Const. Jeff Smith, a 13-year veteran of the force.

About two dozen people were inside the synagogue when gunfire erupted. One of them, Douglas Lobel, said it lasted two or three minutes and “seemed like an eternity.”

Lobel said a police officer eventually entered the synagogue and asked whether anyone had been hurt. No one inside was injured. “This officer was a hero who saved our lives,” Lobel said. “If this officer wasn’t there, I don’t know what could have happened.”

Police have not established a motive or said whether the Sons of Jacob Synagogue or the Jewish community was targeted. The SIU is investigating the actions of the officers, while Belleville police are conducting a parallel criminal investigation that will examine the man’s actions and possible motive.

Meeks said the wounded officer faced “a significant road to recovery.”

Meeks acknowledged the shooting’s impact on Belleville’s Jewish community, particularly because it happened outside the synagogue during Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

“Antisemitism, hate and violence have no place in our community,” Meeks said. “Every person deserves to feel safe when attending a place of worship.”

The synagogue canceled its remaining Yom Kippur services following the shooting.

Police increased patrols and their presence around places of worship but said there was no ongoing threat to public safety.

Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis said it was too soon to say whether the shooting was a hate crime but said “the circumstances are where it happened, when it happened” and that it “points towards that.”

“We have a tight-knit Jewish community. We don’t tolerate this in our city or across the country,” Ellis said. “Everyone has the right to feel safe.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned the shooting in a social media post, saying, “Jewish people must be able to worship safely” and “live free, open, proud Jewish lives.” He said the federal government would support law enforcement in ensuring the perpetrator is held accountable.

The shooting comes months after Carney warned that Canada was failing its Jewish community amid a surge in antisemitism. Carney cited shootings at Jewish schools, firebombings of synagogues and attacks on community centers and Jewish-owned businesses.

Chicken breasts are a midweek staple, but they can quickly turn dry if they’re cooked a little too long. Cooking experts say one simple preparation step done shortly before cooking can help keep the meat noticeably juicier and more tender.

Chicken breasts are a dinnertime essential, whether served alongside potatoes or incorporated into a stir-fry. However, they can rapidly become tough and dried out if overcooked. Even premium-quality chicken can turn dry in a pan or oven without proper care.

Thankfully, there’s a straightforward preparation method that can significantly improve the texture of your meat. It requires minimal time and uses an ingredient you’ve likely got in your cupboard already.

Experts suggest mastering this technique means you’ll never have to endure dry chicken again.

The method is called brining, and according to cooking specialists at The Kitchn, even a relatively brief brine can produce a noticeable improvement, reports the Express.

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A standard brine is simply salt mixed into water. The specialists recommend dissolving a quarter cup of kosher salt in four cups of warm water, which is sufficient for approximately four chicken breasts.

After the salt has dissolved, submerge the chicken in the mixture and place it in the fridge.

While traditional brining can take substantially longer, the specialists say chicken breasts can benefit from a quick brine of 15 to 30 minutes.

The salty mixture enables the chicken to absorb some moisture and salt prior to cooking. This approach helps to deliver meat that is “juicy and tender”, especially beneficial for breasts, which have a tendency to dry out quickly.

Take the chicken out of the brine and thoroughly pat it dry using kitchen paper prior to cooking. This step is especially crucial if you’re aiming to brown or crisp the exterior of the chicken.

It’s equally important to bear in mind that you may need to cut down on the quantity of additional salt called for in the recipe.

When cooking the meat, heat a frying pan with olive oil, then add the chicken breasts. Leave them to cook undisturbed for one minute, then turn them over and lower the heat.

Place a lid over the pan, set a timer for 10 minutes and allow them to cook.

Once the 10 minutes are up, switch off the heat, reset the timer for a further 10 minutes and leave them covered throughout. After this time has elapsed, use a thermometer to verify they have reached 74°C.

Carve the chicken, and it should be succulent and tender, ideal for any lunch or dinner.

In a special episode of the Daily Mail’s Palace Confidential, Richard Kay names the one anecdote from Earl Spencer‘s new Diana memoir that he simply cannot explain.

Kay, now Senior Editor-at-Large, knew the late Princess both personally and professionally. The pair became friends while he was the paper’s royal reporter, and the Princess came to rely on him as a sounding board for dealing with the press.

Extracts from Earl Spencer’s incendiary book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, have been serialised exclusively in the Daily Mail over the past week, ahead of its publication tomorrow.

The passages prompted a rare rebuke from Buckingham Palace after Spencer claimed that the King, then Prince of Wales, told him ‘Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough!’ during a row over Diana’s funeral arrangements.

A Palace spokesman said that while it does not comment on books, His Majesty is ‘mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory’.

Speaking to Palace Confidential host Luke Blackall, Kay revealed that he and Spencer spoke several times in the week after Diana’s death. What the Earl told him in confidence then, which Kay noted down at the time, chimes closely with claims made in the memoir.

Extracts from Earl Spencer’s incendiary book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, have been serialised exclusively in the Daily Mail over the past week, ahead of its publication tomorrow 

However, one anecdote in the book, set as Diana’s marriage was falling apart, left Kay ‘mystified’ and questioning the Earl’s intentions.

‘[Spencer] has been asked to join his sister at San Lorenzo, which famously was Diana’s favourite restaurant,’ he began.

‘They’re dining head to head across the table when she suddenly says to him: “Carlos, I’m going to get a divorce.”

‘There’s no date for this. We don’t know when it was… But he feels he ought to make an observation to his sister and says: “Well, you’ve got to think very carefully about this. The public might turn against you.”

‘And she looks up from the table, fixes him with those huge blue eyes and says: “Carlos, he’s in love with his valet.”‘

Carlos was Diana’s childhood nickname for her brother.

A valet is a personal manservant, responsible for laying out royals’ clothes, helping them dress and drawing them a bath.

In the book, Spencer writes that his sister never named the member of staff, and that he never asked her why she believed ‘such an improbable thing’.

Kay said the remark comes with no context or explanation, and predicted readers would ‘instantly speculate’ about who the man was.

‘I have to say, I’m mystified why he should need to use that anecdote,’ he told Palace Confidential.

‘They’re going to ask, was it true? But I think the main question they’re going to have, and I’m afraid it’s one I really don’t have an answer for, is why did he put it in there?

‘My only view is that Charles Spencer, to use that rather well-worn cliche about revenge being a dish best served cold, decided to put it in for that reason.’

Spencer has since defended including the exchange, telling the BBC it came ‘in the context of a conversation where Diana is telling me that her marriage is over’.

Watch Kay’s full analysis of Earl Spencer’s memoir on Palace Confidential, available now on YouTube.

In one of the least surprising pieces of election news this year, preliminary results indicate that the ruling party, United Russia, is on track to retain its overwhelming majority in the national parliament, or Duma.

There is a striking degree of continuity in the results of this election with the previous one. United Russia, the party of the president, Vladimir Putin, has reportedly received 57.5% of the vote compared with 57.9% in 2021. United Russia will be joined in the parliament by the same political parties represented last time. These are the so-called systemic opposition parties.

The existence of these parties on the ballot gives the voter the illusion of choice. But in reality they always vote with Putin’s government on the issues that really matter – such as the war in Ukraine.

The results were never in any real doubt. But the 2026 election campaign has exposed some significant insights into the mindset of the country’s ruling elite, as well as the public mood.

The state has all but abandoned the fiction that Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine is proceeding according to plan and that life can continue as normal, at least for middle class Russians living in the major cities. Even Putin has acknowledged that the damage to Russia’s oil industry caused by Ukraine’s drone strikes has created petrol shortages that are experienced by motorists and businesses on a daily basis.

This did not mean that Putin was ready to promise an end to the war and a more peaceful and prosperous future if Russians supported United Russia at the polls. Instead, the Russian president explicitly presented the elections as a referendum on society’s support for the war.

Speaking just days before voting began, Putin instructed citizens to participate in the elections in large numbers to demonstrate that millions stand behind the soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

Even without Putin’s instructions, it was hard for ordinary Russians to ignore the war during this election when so many of the candidates are famous – or infamous – for their roles in it. Almost 200 war veterans were standing for seats in the Duma. These include former military officers who had been instrumental in brutal operations, such as the siege of Mariupol and the killing of civilians in Bucha.

Russia’s children’s commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, was also on the ballot for United Russia. Her candidacy was a symbol of Russia’s defiance of the authority of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC wants to put her (as well as Putin himself) on trial for allegedly kidnapping Ukrainian children and bringing them to Russia for adoption. Lvova-Belova herself has adopted a child from the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

But while Russia’s top political leaders handed candidates a script full of patriotic zeal for the war, many apparently had no desire to read from it. There was a notable difference between the enthusiasm expressed for the war by the political elite in Moscow and the attitudes of candidates further down the ballot. Some of them seemed to want to avoid the topic entirely.

The campaign was marked by televised debates where one or all of the candidates failed to turn up. And often the candidates who did attend their own debates quickly ran out of positive or even uncontroversial things to say. Viewers were reportedly treated to some candidates standing silently during the rest of their allotted time.

Managed election

Despite the apathy shown by many candidates, the state’s election officials worked overtime to ensure that United Russia would win a comfortable victory. The Russian election monitor project, a group of European scholars, former and active politicians, and public officials aiming to ensure free and fair elections, reported incidents of ballot box tampering. This included a case in Krasnodar where officials added ballots after the polls had closed, undeterred and unimpeded by the presence of a police officer.

Election monitors representing political parties – including from systemic opposition parties such as the Communists – were turned away and not permitted to observe the process. In at least one case, an election monitor was arrested and physically injured by the police.

Opportunities to vote online were expanded, with Putin himself participating, despite his famous lack of interest in the internet. Online voting was viewed with suspicion by many ordinary Russians, on the grounds that it would be easier for the state to manipulate the results.

Contrasting the overall lacklustre mood of the campaign with the very high proportion of online votes for United Russia does suggest, at the least, that the online vote might have been massaged to achieve the record 59% turnout.

When elections are so thoroughly managed, it is difficult for voters to register disapproval of the status quo. One potential outlet for the disgruntled citizen was removed during the summer. In August, the Russian Supreme Court banned the political party Yabloko when it looked as though it might become too popular. Yabloko adopted an anti-war platform and was barred from fielding candidates in the party list ballot, which determines 225 seats.

However, Yabloko did manage to field a small number of candidates for single ballot seats and also for the regional parliament in Novgorod, where it looks to have won some seats.

One visible sign of disillusion with the whole process of elections in Russia was the vandalism of 74 electoral commission premises during the three days of voting. The fact that electoral commission premises sustained damage in all of the Ukrainian territories that Russia has claimed to annex is an indication of the ongoing resistance in occupied Ukraine.

These elections may have provided the results that Putin demanded. But the campaign has revealed growing cracks between a political leadership that is determined to continue Russia’s disastrous war in Ukraine and the ordinary citizens who are called upon to pay the human cost for that conflict.

Asked about the state of the relationship between the UK and US, the prime minister said he believes it is “as strong as it’s ever been”.

Burnham has travelled to New York with his wife, Marie-France Van Heel, for a day of diplomacy and a speech to the UN General Assembly, which is expected to focus on the opportunities and dangers associated with artificial intelligence (AI).

He said: “I will be making the case for closer international cooperation on AI, a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, and renewed efforts to bring an end to the conflict in the Middle East because what happens abroad impacts each and every one of us at home.”

The prime minister will also announce the start of work on a new AI and Autonomy partnership between the UK and the US, focused on protecting critical national infrastructure using AI tech.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey is expected to criticise this plan at the final day of his party’s conference, saying it “doesn’t come close to meeting the scale of the threat” and “only risks making us more dependent on a Trump administration in the pocket of the tech bros”.

He will also call for a global pause on superintelligent AI and propose a new International AI Safety Agency.

His criticisms come after a series of stark warnings from the AI industry about the technology’s possible dangers.

For a new British prime minister, the first meeting with a US president has always been a pivotal encounter, but officials are well aware of the added jeopardy of a public appearance alongside the most unpredictable president in American history.

In advance of the meeting, the UK revealed that the UK and the US have, for the first time, fired an American torpedo from a British undersea drone in a military exercise.

The torpedo, described as “heavyweight” by UK officials, is “designed to sink ships and deep diving submarines”, Downing Street said.

It was launched in UK waters last week from a 12-metre long undersea drone called Excalibur, made in Plymouth.

It is the first time either the UK or the US have launched a torpedo from an uncrewed underwater vessel, rather than a crewed submarine, and is seen as a breakthrough in attempts to protect vital infrastructure such as deep sea data cables.

“Our work together already shows what can be achieved when our two countries combine our expertise and innovation,” the prime minister said.

Burnham was also asked by reporters about the UK government seeking to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and pay to lease back the joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia.

It was confirmed in April that the deal had been paused indefinitely because of Trump pulling his support.

Burnham spoke to the Mauritian prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, on Monday.

He was asked by reporters to outline what he had told Ramgoolam, whether he supported the deal and if he had a plan to convince Trump to back it.

Burnham replied: “I said that we remain determined to secure the long-term operation of the base, which is crucial to our security and that of our allies.

“The assurance I gave was I will work towards a resolution, at the moment we don’t have that, but I gave an assurance that I would commit to working towards one.”

Sarah Tyrer, prosecuting, told York magistrates Ian Peart, 44, sat in his car with the driver’s door open in the Islamic Centre’s car park at 2.30am on July 30.

An eyewitness returning home heard a gunshot similar to those heard on films and saw Peart’s rifle sticking out of his car and Peart himself in the car.

Then he heard the firearm fire and a puff of smoke rise where the projectile hit the ground.

Peart told police later he had been out to buy cigarettes at a 24-hour garage on Hull Road when he saw some rabbits in the car park and tried to shoot them.

He used his rifle during his work.

In a statement given as part of the interview procedure, he wrote that “He didn’t see anybody around and there was no intention of causing anyone any harm or fear,” said Ms Tyrer.

“There is no evidence to suggest it was an anti-Muslim act,” said the prosecutor.

“The defendant’s explanation seems to have been accepted by the police.”

Peart, of Bell Farm Avenue, off Huntington Road, York, pleaded guilty to having a .22 air rifle in public.

Magistrates fined him £317 and ordered him to pay a £114 surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.

They told him: “It is unfortunate this was done in a public place and it certainly caused alarm and distress.

“The fact that it was near the Mosque is irrelevant as there is no suggestion this building or its occupants were targeted.”

They rejected a prosecution request that the air rifle be confiscated after defence solicitor Harry Bayman said Peart needed it for his work.

As he left court Peart said he had no hostility towards Muslims, “None at all,” he said.

He said he was sorry if his actions had caused alarm and distress.

Mr Bayman said Peart was a self-employed pest controller and used his air rifle to shoot vermin.

He often used it at night because vermin were more likely to be around then.

“He shouldn’t have been using the item in a car park albeit it was deserted, and he was not aware of anyone around,” said Mr Bayman.

He said Peart had been intending to shoot rabbits on St Nicks’ Nature Reserve, which is close to the Mosque.

Ms Tyrer said the eyewitness took a picture and videos on his phone of the car and Peart and gave them to police, as well as the registration number of the car.

Police went to Peart’s home, arrested him and carried out searches.

They found the air rifle in his car and ammunition in his house.