Bedfordshire Police were called to reports of vehicles being damaged on a residential street in Bedford and arrived to find a man in his 40s who was ‘making threats’ from a property

A man has been shot dead by armed police after “making threats” from a property in Bedfordshire.

Bedfordshire Police were called to reports of vehicles being damaged at Aylesbury Road in Bedford on Monday night and arrived to find a man in his 40s who had barricaded himself inside a property.

Specialist armed officers attended the scene shortly after 10.40pm alongside police negotiators and other emergency services.

Officers made efforts to engage with the man for a number of hours before he presented a weapon just after 9:30am.

Armed police then fired and the man was pronounced dead shortly before 10.30am. His next of kin have been informed.

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Daily Record Political Editor says Keir Starmer does not have much time left in Downing Street.

Keir Starmer’s colleagues have given him a stay of execution rather than a pardon.

Limited Cabinet support should be enough to keep him in post for days, but hanging around for weeks is unlikely and staying on for months is a non-starter.

The Prime Minister’s temporary reprieve reflects the weakness of the rivals who covet his job.

A cloud hangs over Angela Rayner due to her decisions on tax and moderates fear sacking Starmer could lead to her taking over.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting – Labour’s best communicator – worries that knifing the PM in the back will backfire.

And Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham – the favourite, if he was an MP – has no easy route back to Westminster.

In the current climate, Labour could not be guaranteed to win any by-election manufactured for Burnham’s benefit.

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But luck does not change the fundamentals and Starmer will quit either in the short or medium term.

YouGov polling found 70% of respondents believe Starmer is doing badly as Prime Minister, with only 22% taking the opposite view.

Half of Britons say he should stand down while 29% say he should remain in the job.

Even his closest allies privately admit he has struggled with the demands of leading the UK.

Signing off the winter fuel payment cut was a catastrophe that haunts Labour to this day.

Promising economic growth while hitting businesses with higher national insurance costs was a disaster.

His inexplicable decision to appoint Lord Mandelson as the UK’s top diplomat to the US simply reinforced his unfitness for office.

Starmer’s error was in misinterpreting Labour’s historic general election win against the Tories.

Winning an incredible 174-seat majority led some in the Government to believe it was a Blair-style victory, with the Right banished for a generation.

The reality is Labour only won 33.7% of the vote and the victory was rooted in hostility to the Tories and SNP, not a love of Starmer.

Voters wanted to turn the corner on fifteen years of Tory rule but Starmer felt like he had built up the political capital for so-called tough decisions.

The public revolted early on and Starmer had been doomed from the early days of his premiership.

Even if Starmer soldiers on, Reform and the Tories have enough ammunition from this week’s soap opera to torment his party until the next election.

Around 80 of his MPs no longer have confidence in him, with eight of his Scottish contingent demanding his departure.

Starmer was already persona non grata in Scotland – voters were viscerally hostile about him during the Holyrood campaign.

The quit calls from north of the border are damning and cannot be taken back.

Alan Gemmell, the MP for Central Ayrshire, said the Prime Minister’s “unpopularity” stopped Labour from beating the SNP.

Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy MP Melanie Ward resigned as a PPS after saying voters could not back Labour “as long as Keir Starmer remains Prime Minister”.

Richard Baker, the chair of the Scottish Labour MPs, demanded Starmer walk because “too many people” believe he cannot provide the leadership the country needs.

North Ayrshire and Arran MP Irene Campbell backed an “orderly transition of leadership” while Glasgow North East MP Maureen Burke urged a “timetable” for his departure.

Glasgow South MP Gordon McKee was more direct: “If we don’t change, the outcome could be Nigel Farage in Downing Street and all of the disastrous consequences that would have.”

Party sources believe the most honourable course of action would be Starmer resigning in a way that gives Burnham a chance of entering the contest.

Shutting him out, one MP said, would cause division and deprive MPs and members of the fullest possible range of options.

The MPs now calling for Starmer’s head do so with no malice and plenty of regret.

He took over as Labour leader in 2019 from the ashes of the failed Corbyn project.

He reformed a party that had been infected with anti-semitism and put Labour back on the same page as the voters.

Overturning a huge Tory majority in one election will go down as an astonishing achievement.

But there is a big difference between being leader of the Opposition and Prime Minister.

He excelled at the first – after a few struggles – but has failed at the second job.

Starmer is on the way out and a new Prime Minister is required to defeat Farage.

Jake Hall’s heartbroken relatives have travelled to Majorca, just days after the former reality star was found dead after sustaining injuries to his chest from ‘shards of glass’

Jake Hall’s family have arrived in Majorca, less than a week after he was found dead. Jake, who found fame on ITVBe’s The Only Way Is Essex, died aged just 25 on Wednesday at an Airbnb on the Spanish island.

It was claimed that the dad-of-one ran through a single-glazed glass door, causing catastrophic injuries. Reports claim that Hall sustained injuries to his thorax, and shards of glass were found when he was discovered.

Local police have confirmed his death is being treated as accidental after questioning four men and two women, as fans, friends, and family come to terms with the devastating news. But Jake’s relatives have now headed to Majorca.

His dad, Greg, mum, Jacqueline and his brother, Sonny, were seen visiting a sculpture at NU Mallorca beach club, which Jake had revealed just weeks ago. In one snap shared by Sonny on social media, he showed his mum and Jake’s close friend, Sophie Brooke Flecks, consoled as they consoled one another.

Meanwhile, Greg also shared a snap of the family posing in front of the beachfront sculpture. He captioned his post: “Thank you so so much for all your love. Visited our son’s sculpture yesterday.” Friends of Jake say he had returned to Majorca to focus on his artwork, a passion he’d shown on social media.

Jake is said to have arrived in Majorca just one week ago, with locals seeing him arrive in the picturesque village where he was staying, carrying a suitcase. However, just hours later, he headed out on a night out before returning to his villa, alongside two men and three women.

The group are believed to have continued their party until the early hours. However, at around 7:15am local time, local residents heard a loud bang and the sound of shattering glass. An autopsy took place just two days later, and the results, which would subsequently confirm whether alcohol or other substances were involved, will not be made public.

A resident at a neighbouring property claimed that men were running up and down the street begging for help after the fatal accident. Rafael, 70, says he “found a boy on the floor” and instantly checked his vitals but knew Jake had died.

Rafael added that there was a group of “nervous” men around that he told to call the police and an ambulance. Another neighbour, Antonino Arriero, who also lives opposite the rental property, said: “We saw a man lying down on the floor with two to three police officers standing by him.” Antonino had been on a morning walk and said that Jake was taken away by an ambulance around 30 minutes after he was found.

Sources close to Jake have since said that joining TOWIE, on which he appeared between 2015 and 2016, was the worst decision he made. Speaking to the Daily Mail, they said: “Being on the show was the worst thing he could have done, it sent him off the rails. He was very up and down.”

They claimed he had been suicidal for years before his death. “We weren’t sure if it was about attention, but he was distressed for sure. He was a beautiful boy, but so lonely and so lost.”

*If you’re struggling and need to talk, the Samaritans operate a free helpline open 24/7 on 116 123. Alternatively, you can email jo@samaritans.org or visit their site to find your local branch

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Queen Camilla was joined by James Middleton, the brother of the Princess of Wales, at Clarence House today as she welcomed cancer-detecting dogs to the royal residence

Queen Camilla was joined by the Princess of Wales’s brother as she held a reception in honour of cancer-detecting dogs and welcomed them to Clarence House today.

James Middleton, who is known for his love of dogs, was seen greeting Camilla with a kiss on the cheek as they welcomed two pooches trained by Medical Detection Dogs to sniff out signs of cancer in humans.

The Queen patted the heads of golden Labrador Jodie and fox red Labrador Floren, who waited for her in the royal residence’s hallway today. Floren, 11, has been trained to detect prostate cancer, while Jodie, nine, can pick up the disease in the bowel. The Queen smiled as Jodie showed off her skills by spotting the disease among four urine samples.

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Mr Middleton’s dog food company, Ella & Co, donates treats to Medical Detection Dogs and told the Queen he was “mind-blown” by what the dogs have been trained to do.

Camilla was also shown an “electronic nose” developed to replicate the animals’ diagnostic abilities, though she said “nature will always lead the way” and “we’re always going to need the dogs”.

After the demonstration and speeches, Camilla requested that the canines be brought back to Clarence House soon and said: “I think it’s becoming a second home for the dogs. We’ve had so many people here, and a lot of sceptical people who come and have gone away transformed.”

Scepticism on this medical use of canines still exists, and Camilla added: “We’ll just have to bring more people back here… and more dogs.”

The Queen also met black Labrador Wolfie, six, who is trained to alert owner Lucy Burls before a spike in symptoms of her Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (PoTS). Ms Burls, 39, said Wolfie will usually alert her by making eye contact, but if her condition worsens, he will rest his head on her lap.

She said Camilla was surprised to learn Wolfie can travel with Ms Burls on planes and even speedboats for a holiday. He particularly enjoys double-decker buses, Ms Burls said.

The electronic nose device was developed by the charity and Dr Andreas Mershin, from RealNose.AI. Dr Mershin put the technology in the Queen’s hands and blew into it to demonstrate its ability to pick up scent. Camilla joked that the dogs were far faster, only taking about four seconds.

Whereas the machine, she was told, takes about 10 minutes to detect cancer. Dr Mershin said: “The dogs are leading, they’re still beating us on every metric, we have to start somewhere, and the best thing is to compete against them.”

The Queen said: “Nature will always lead the way. However brilliant, as the machine is, we’re always going to need the dogs”, she added, telling the engineer: “It’s fascinating, thank you very much… I shall look forward to an update.”

Camilla has been Patron of Medical Detection Dogs (MDD) since 2014. In recent years, Her Majesty has seen many Bio Detection Dogs at work, such as cancer detection dogs and Covid-19 detection dogs.

MDD trains dogs to save lives using their sense of smell. It does this with Medical Alert Assistance Dogs and Bio Detection Dogs, both of which can be trained to detect even the tiniest trace of the smell caused by a medical condition.

The debut novel by Paul Hodgson, John’s Journey, will be unveiled through a TikTok livestream on May 16 at 6pm.

Mr Hodgson said: “I’m over the moon, this is my first novel, which has been 15 years in the making (on and off).

“I really hope people like it.”

The story follows Private John Wray, whose encounter with a college friend-turned-enemy on the front lines of the First World Wa forces him into a maze of deception and survival.

Years later, Wray resurfaces as an undercover MI5 operative in Nazi Berlin during the Second World Wa.

Caught between betrayal and pursuit, he places his trust in the father of his former friend as he attempts a perilous escape to the Swiss border.

Mr Hodgson’s writing career began in the late 1990s.

His first published work was Flipper’s Side, released in 2000 by Scarsdale Books.

A revised version, Give Them Wings, was published in 2021 by G2 Entertainment.

In 2022, he published One Hundred of the Best, which highlights his favourite Darlington FC matches.

This was followed in August 2024 by For the Love of Darlo, a prequel focused on his school years.

In January 2025, another edition titled Another One Hundred of the Best was released.

He is also the author of The David Speedie Story, published in September 2025 by Pitch Publishing, chronicling the life of the former Chelsea and Liverpool striker.

His work has earned national media attention, including interviews on the BBC World Service and TalkSport.

Mr Hodgson is an accomplished scriptwriter and the winner of more than 150 writing awards.

JD Crist of Pumkin Head Publishing said: “John’s Journey is such an amazing story.

“I am honoured that Paul has entrusted me with helping to share his amazing work with the world.

“I hope readers are drawn into John’s life as much as I was.”

One of Mr Hodgson’s earlier books, When Push Comes to Shove, published in 2003 by G.W. Belton Ltd, documented two seasons following Darlington Football Club.

Flipper’s Side was later adapted into a film starring Bill Fellows and Toyah Willcox, who played Mr Hodgson’s mother.

Mr Fellows, a supporter of Mr Hodgson’s work, wrote the foreword for John’s Journey.

Katy Perry shared a comical reaction to the news her ex, Josh Groban, is engaged after admitting her hit song ‘The One That Got Away’ was about the singer

Katy Perry has reacted to the news her ex, Josh Groban, is engaged. The star revealed he is set to marry stage actress Natalie McQueen after announcing their sweet news last month.

But years before Josh and Natalie got together, he was in a relationship with Firework singer Katy. They were briefly an item in 2009 and have remained friends since.

And now Katy has offered a joking response to his exciting news. She posted a video of herself jokingly crying as she listened to her tune, The One That Got Away. She was seen taking a drink while crying and wearing a white dressing gown.

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She had previously revealed the track was about her ex. In 2017, while promoting her Witness album, she labelled Josh the ‘one that got away’.

The chorus of the song reads: “In another life I would be your girl/ We’d keep all our promises/ Be us against the world/ In another life I would make you stay/ So I don’t have to say you were/ The one that got away/ The one that got away.”

Josh admitted in 2018 that he was “not expecting that”. “That was a double take and a spit of my coffee when I saw that,” he said. “It’s very sweet of her to say that. I’m very flattered by it. But I was very surprised by it too.”

But he claimed he didn’t have a clue as the tune didn’t match him. He went on: “I listened to the lyrics of the song. And I’m like, ‘I never owned a Mustang. I don’t have a tattoo. Are you sure that’s about me?”

Describing why the pair broke up, Josh said: “We were both very private and we realised we were better as friends and we’ve been very, very good friends to this day. She’s the best.”

At the time, he also played down any chance of getting back with the star. He went on: “I think we’re both very taken at the moment, but it’s very sweet.”

Josh proposed to Natalie during a trip to Disneyland. Sharing the update last month, Josh gushed: “MY BEST FRIEND SAID YES!!! Sharing this life with you is my happiest place.”

He shared a number of snaps from their getaway. Among them was a photo of thje pa in front of Snow White’s Wishing Well and the King Arthur Carrousel. The last images showed a cake with “congratulations” written in icing on top and the couple’s hands, including Natalie’s big diamond.

Speaking about their relationship in 2023, Josh told People: “We’re both people pleasers and we’re both introverts, so that can sometimes mean that it takes a little bit of prodding, like, ‘No, how are you really feeling? And so we always just want to make things great for each other.”

Katy is currently dating former Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau.

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From May 12, 2026, learner drivers must book their own driving tests as the DVSA confirms instructors will no longer be permitted to make bookings on their behalf

Certain motorists will be affected by new driving rule changes coming into force on Britain’s roads from today (May 12). Learner drivers will notice significant updates from today in the second phase of a major overhaul of driving tests.

The DVSA has already introduced amendments to the number of changes learners can make to their test booking. Under the previous regulations, learners were permitted to alter details relating to their test up to six times, but this has now been reduced to just twice.

From May 12, further changes will be made regarding who can book and manage driving tests, with instructors set to lose this ability. Previously, either the learner driver or the instructor were entitled to book tests. However, under the new rules, only the candidate will be permitted to make a booking.

The DVSA previously stated: “From 12 May 2026, you will need to book your car driving test yourself on GOV.UK. Your driving instructor will not be allowed to book it for you. From 12 May 2026, it will be against the law to book a driving test for someone else.”

Prior to booking a test, drivers should consult their instructor to confirm they are ready to sit the test, reports the Express. It is also essential to obtain a driving instructor reference number, which is vital to ensure their instructor is available on the chosen date.

Beverley Warmington, DVSA’s chief executive, previously said: “We have listened to learners, driving instructors and voices from across the driver training industry on how to make the booking rules fairer. Our priority is to stop learners being exploited by third parties and put them in control of booking their driving test.”

Nevertheless, the DVSA emphasised that learner drivers ought to only reserve their test at a centre they actually plan to attend. Ian Edwards, young driver expert at Veygo by Admiral, previously outlined how the May changes would impact road users.

Ian said: “From May, learners will be the only ones allowed to book their driving test. If your instructor has handled this for you in the past, you’ll now need to do it yourself through the official DVSA booking service at GOV.UK.

“Make sure you’re registered and have your driving licence number to hand before you try to book. Avoid third-party websites charging inflated fees – the standard test fee is £62, and that’s all you should ever pay.”

Sweet potatoes vs yams: differences explained

1) They’re from different families

2) They’re different parts of their respective plants

3) They can look very different

4) They’re often grown in different places

5) They taste different

6) They’re nutritionally different

7) They’re cooked differently