IF you really want to know how a show was, ask someone (carefully) in the next cubicle or at the next urinal afterwards. This was a taste from the Gents: “Incredible”. “The best fun you can have on a Tuesday” (the night your reviewer attended).

The Choir Of Man performance doesn’t start with the lifting of the curtain, but begins with cast and audience together on the stage decked out with a real working bar. This is the audience’s introduction to ‘The Jungle’: an idealised pub that feels familiar to anyone of a certain age. The sort of place where people talk, share, open up, drink, sing and don’t appear to worry too much about what comes next.

This is a show where everything is tilted to ensure you have a good time, and the performers look like they do too. There is a nod to a back story (based on the actor’s own) but their names, such as “Hardman” and “Maestro”, tell you all need to know.

But who really needs a reason to go to a bar? The emphasis is rightly on the songs, the musicianship and the nine voices. It’s a careening blast through some well-chosen songs from the 1980s onwards (and no room for Vera Lynn).

Choirs need voices that work together, not overwhelming the rest. On Tuesday’s opening performance, Sam Walter’s Romantic, Oluwalonimi ’Nimi’ Owoyemi’s Poet, Jack Skelton’s Handyman, Joshua Lloyd’s Barman, Gustav Melbardis’s Maestro, Levi Tyrell Johnson’s Hardman, Rob Godfrey’s Beast, Aaron Pottenger’s Bore and Ben Mabberley’s Joker all seemed to have come from some superhuman school of acting and music.

One where everyone can sing, play several instruments, dance when required and shake their thang with the best of them. Where do such people come from? Not likely headhunted from your average local.

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The set-up is simple. There are a few heartfelt words, albeit sometimes a little rushed from Nimi, our narrator, but what little story there is always serves the song, spanning 15 numbers and a reprise over two hours.

It is exactly the life-affirming, joy-giving experience you hope for, and it is easy to see why the show has gathered such plaudits over the past ten years. While a few liberties are taken with The Proclaimers’ I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles), the emotion is raw for Luther Vandross’s Dance With My Father.

You do have to set aside any scruples about celebrating alcohol, and if toilet humour isn’t your thing, then there’s one (actually very funny) scene when you might want to take a loo break. Spoiler (free beer!) for those in the stalls and a greater chance of being whisked on stage by a handsome man, but go with it and you’ll wake up without regret. There are lots of laughs, with Lloyd’s Barman gamely mining the most.

While the idea of this sort of bar may be fading into folk memory, people no longer routinely gather around the “old Joanna” to sing together, the community and belonging these spaces create, and places like them still engender, live and breathe on.

The musical highlights are the a cappella choir numbers. They steal the show from some of the bigger and better-known hits by Bon Jovi, Queen and even Eagle Eye Cherry’s Save Tonight.

The wonderful interplay of nine voices is sensational. For the finale, the cast is joined by 102 local choir members from Some Voices, Stamford Bridge Community Choir and Sing Space Musical Theatre for Sia’s Chandelier. The standing ovation that follows is thoroughly deserved.

Much is made of the show’s invitation to enjoy life while we can, to raise another glass. There is always that drinker’s tension, held in the balance in the glass, between one sip and the next, revelry or regret. Fortunately for us, this show truly does go on.

Give into your freewheeling side and “bring tomorrow on” while this lovely blast is in York.

The Choir Of Man, Grand Opera House, York, 7.30pm tonight; 4pm & 8pm tomorrow; 2.30pm & 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Rosie Hanson, 21, hits speeds of around 60mph in her VW Golf when she struck Ryan Phillips while on her way to deliver a pizza in Sheerness, Kent

A young driver who was speeding when she hit and killed a pedestrian on her way to deliver a pizza has avoided jail.

Rosie Hanson, 21, was handed a 16-month prison term, suspended for two years at Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday for causing the death by careless driving of Ryan Phillips on January 17 2024.

The 27-year-old was walking to a nearby restaurant with his girlfriend Sophie Rowe to celebrate passing his apprenticeship as an IT technician, the court heard.

But on their way, “chatting and laughing” while walking on the pavement at around 6.40pm, they were struck by Hanson’s VW Golf along Marine Parade in Sheerness, Kent.

Prosecutor Tom Nicholson told the court Ms Rowe was hit in her legs, before she ran over to Mr Phillips and saw blood coming from his mouth.

A post-mortem examination of Mr Phillips revealed a strike to his head on the windshield of the car, adding it was a “completely unsurviveable head injury from the outset”.

Hanson got out of her car and spoke to emergency services in a 999 call where she said she hit someone in her car delivering pizza, and had thought a cat ran out into the road “causing her to swerve up onto the curb”.

Mr Nicholson said that evidence from Hanson’s iPhone showed she was travelling in excess of the 40mph speed limit, reaching approximately 54 to 68mph in the moments before losing control.

He added her account of having seen an animal prompting her to steer right to avoid it was “difficult to confirm or negate”.

“At the speed Ms Hanson was travelling, combined with the abrupt steering response, led to the vehicle becoming unstable, and resulted in her overreacting to the situation, and instigating a clockwise rotation, crossing the opposing lane, mounting the pavement and colliding with Mr Phillips and Ms Rowe,” he said.

The court heard Hanson worked for her father in an admin job and then had a call from a pizza company she had been working for on an ad hoc basis.

Sentencing her, Judge Julian Smith found Hanson was driving at something like 60mph following expert analysis. “The reason for tragic loss is failure in Rosie Hanson’s driving,” he said.

“Speeding to get a job done to deliver pizzas is stupid, but it is not of itself malicious… it should not happen.”

Hanson was also sentenced to nine months’ concurrently for driving while uninsured as her cover did not include for business or professional use for her second job.

The judge emphasised her sentence is “no measure” of a man’s life but of her culpability in the offence, and adjusted her sentence to reflect her young age of 19 at the time. “There is to my mind a realistic prospect of rehabilitation. I accept she is a low risk of re-offending and is in no way a danger,” the judge added.

Judge Smith acknowledged the impact of Mr Phillips death is “extraordinary and ongoing”, with a statement from Ms Rowe painting a picture of a “warm, enthusiastic and generous man”.

“The time with Mr Phillips was precious indeed,” he said.

In victim impact statements read to court by Ms Rowe, she said the couple had been together for nearly four years and were planning to move in together – and Mr Phillips was “very, very excited” about his new dream job working in IT in a prison.

“The night before he passed away he said he planned to save for an engagement ring and this made me so happy,” she said. “We’d been waiting for that extra step in Ryan’s life, (he’d) finally achieved something he wanted to do.”

She described her partner as a “gentle giant who would do anything for anyone”, adding: “Losing Ryan has ruined my life. I intended to spend the rest of my life with him. I feel like I cannot do this anymore because he was everything to me.”

Mr Phillips’ mother Catherine Phillips said he was not just her son, but “best friend”, and one of the most “selfless people” you could ever meet. She described him as caring, thoughtful and “full of love for people around him” who was building a future for himself.

“All that future has been taken away in an instant,” she said. “My life has fallen apart. I struggle every day just to get through. Grief is constant and overwhelming, the silence he has left behind is unbearable”. She added: “I will carry this pain, this loss for the rest of my life.”

Ms Phillips added in a further statement how she struggled with how Hanson was allowed to go home the night Mr Phillips died rather than being arrested at the scene, and how she was charged by email.

She said as a grieving parent she was left with a feeling that the seriousness of the incident was not reflected in how the defendant was treated.

But Hanson’s lawyer, Allan Goh, said that Thursday’s sentencing was the first opportunity for Hanson to express her feelings towards Mr Phillips’ family and she indicates genuine remorse.

In a letter by Hanson read in court to the judge, she said: “I am writing you this letter to express my deepest apologies to you, Ryan’s family and friends.

“I can’t put it into words how sorry I am this ever happened and if I could go back and change it, I would in seconds. For what I have seen social media, Ryan you sounded like a lovely man which haunts me.”

The defendant, of Mimosa Avenue, Minster-on-Sea, Sheerness, had previously denied the offence of causing death by careless driving at a hearing in December last year, before changing her plea and admitting causing death while uninsured in May this year.

The judge also ordered her to complete 220 hours of unpaid work and disqualified her from driving for three years, subject to passing an extended driving test.

A 27-year-old man from south Wales was found dead in the back of a car after he was given a lift following an altercation with other men. Police and paramedics were called to the incident in Beddau in the early hours of Friday, June 26.

Josef Deniro Ward, 27, from Pontyclun, had been smoking crack cocaine when he fell asleep in the back of the vehicle. An inquest opening at Pontypridd Coroners’ Court on Thursday, July 2, heard that Josef Ward’s death was reported on June 26 by South Wales Police.

The court heard how on June 25 the 27-year-old had been out socialising and had smoked crack cocaine, and following an altercation with other males he was given a lift when he fell asleep in the rear passenger seat.

You can read the full inquest opening here

A star was born!

Long before skyrocketing to superstardom and becoming one of the most recognizable faces in the world, Taylor Swift was merely just a chubby-cheeked girl next door trying to make it in the cutthroat country music scene.

Now, as the 36-year-old prepares to take center stage yet again for her highly anticipated wedding to NFL star Travis Kelce, the Daily Mail can reveal a trove of lost photos that show just how she blossomed from a toothless platinum blonde into the global icon she is today.

The remarkable photo album offers a glimpse into the bride-to-be’s early years as a baby-faced youngster before she evolved into a guitar-stringing teen on the rise.

Celebrity portrait photographer Andrew Orth, an old friend who used to live next door to the Swift family, documented the transformation over the course of a decade.

‘Taylor was a very pretty little girl,’ Orth previously told the Daily Mail.

The remarkable photo album shows Swift’s evolution from a toddler to curly-haired singer trying to make a break into the country music scene 

The snaps were taken by celebrity portrait photographer Andrew Orth, an old friend who used to live next door to the Swift family

‘She had this white hair, crystal blue eyes, pale skin, and pouty lips. She was just something,’ he continued.

‘She had a way about her, she knew she was adorable and she really was the cutest thing in the world.’

He first snapped Swift when she was just four years old in her family’s barn in Reading, Pennsylvania, where the future star proudly showed off her toothless grin.

When the Swift clan eventually headed off for the bright lights of Nashville, Tennessee, Orth continued to shoot her sporadically as she sought to make a name for herself in country music.

In the cache of photos, Swift can be seen posing with her guitar, cowboy hats and her once-iconic curly tresses.

The selection of past snaps is a far cry from the countless red carpet and paparazzi images of the 14-time Grammy winner that now flood every stretch of the internet.

The celebrity portrait photographer first snapped Swift when she was just four years old in her family’s barn in Reading, Pennsylvania

A trove of lost photos show how Swift blossomed from a toothless platinum blonde youngster into global superstar

The album, which resurfaced just before her wedding this week, documented the superstar’s transformation over a decade-long stretch

In some of the first photos from the album, Swift proudly showed off her toothless smile

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When the Swift family eventually headed off for the bright lights of Nashville, Tennessee, the photographer continued to shoot her sporadically as she made her mark on the music scene

In the cache of photos, Swift can be seen sporting her once-iconic curly tresses

She posed with her guitar for the trove of photos as she was breaking into the country scene

The treasured shots resurfaced just as Swift and Kelce, also 36, prepare to tie the knot at New York City’s Madison Square Garden later this week. 

Remarkably, Orth anticipated in an interview more than a decade ago that the Grammy winner would likely find the one in her 30s.

‘Probably in her thirties she’ll find something more that’s significant… I think that she has no patience for them now,’ he said back in 2013 – long before her string of high-profile relationships – and breakups – dominated gossip headlines. 

‘She’s the kind of girl that when she finds the right guy, she’s going to stick with him.’

More than a decade on, the rumor mill has been kicked into overdrive as the Swift-Kelce wedding inches closer.

The pair started dating in 2023 – two years before Kelce got down on one knee with a diamond ring said to be ten carats.

The couple dropped news of their engagement in August last year with a flurry of photos on social media from the intimate proposal.

The cache of photos were taken over a decade until Swift was about 15 years old

‘Taylor was a very pretty little girl,’ Orth previously told the Daily Mail

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The photographer, who often shot children with talent agencies in Los Angeles, recalled Swift having ‘this white hair, crystal blue eyes, pale skin and pouty lips’

Some of the snaps were used to help boost Swift’s profile early on in her career 

Swift was ever the typical teenager when she posed for this photo in Nashville back in the day 

Now, after months of fevered will-she-won’t-she speculation, activity around MSG reached a fever pitch this week as a huge volume of delivery trucks arrived at the venue and workers fueled whispers that The Love Story hitmaker may be entering her ‘bridezilla’ era.

Adding to the growing sense of drama, it was also claimed that the couple were building a custom princess ‘castle’ inside the arena ahead of lavish celebrations that are expected to take place across Thursday and Friday.

There are even rumors that Swift has bought up every available calla lily in New York City. 

While the superstar couple have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep specific details of their wedding under wraps, the ceremony looks set to rival any one of Swift’s sold-out Eras Tour concerts. 

Speaking to his younger self, he continued: “I know you think you and Ant have left to go on a bit of an adventure for a few weeks, but you don’t realise it yet. You’ve both pretty much left home now, and your lives will never return to how they have been. But it turned out alright, guys.

The best summer companion is a good book. This year has already given us some truly brilliant ones making it really hard to whittle down the best. But no matter what your tastes are, we have you covered. These novels range from historical fiction to gripping crime drama. From 1800s Ireland, to 1930s Taiwan, to post revolution Iran, this international selection will take you to all sorts of places without ever having to leave your own home.

1. Land by Maggie O’Farrell

Maggie O’Farrell’s exquisite new novel, Land, is a haunting tale of loss, endurance and renewal. Spanning generations and continents, O’Farrell traces the fragile threads that connect people and place. Moving between intimacy and sweeping historical change, the novel reveals the land itself as a living archive of rupture, survival and belonging.

Land begins in 1860s Ireland, on an unnamed “windswept tongue of land” that branches out in the roiling, icy currents of the Atlantic. As a scholar of Ireland’s Great Famine, An Gorta Mór, I am aware of how devastating the 1840s were. One million lives were lost to starvation and disease and two million people emigrated in the immediate aftermath.

This is the context for O’Farrell’s novel: the land was changed utterly. A whole way of life was eroded, and Land imagines what it must have been like to walk among the ruins, to see an agrarian culture collapse, and, for those left behind, to forge a future from remnants.

David Nally, Professor of Historical Geography in the Department of Geography

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Land by Maggie O’Farrell is a haunting tale set in post-famine Ireland about history, map-making and memory

2. Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi, translated by Lin King

Set in 1930s Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule, this exquisitely layered novel follows Japanese writer Aoyama Chizuko and her Taiwanese interpreter Ông Tshian-ho’h through a culinary and emotional landscape seeded with deliberate breadcrumbs: details that only reveal their full significance upon return visits to the book.

Taiwan Travelogue’s meta-fictional architecture is quietly audacious. Yang frames the narrative through a fictional author, a fictional translator and their respective silences, making the unreliable narrator not merely a device but a structural argument about whose knowledge counts and whose remains obstructed.

What makes the book genuinely pleasurable, however, is its treatment of intimacy between the two women. The queer undertow is rendered through the minute economies of shared meals and unfinished sentences, through which Yang smuggles the most profound questions about desire, friendship and colonial entitlement into the everyday.

Eva Cheuk-Yin Li is a lecturer in screen industries

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Taiwan Travelogue wins 2026 International Booker – a deftly translated tale of food, love and history

John of John is about the secrets and lies that fester under an oppressive atmosphere that is thick with damp and shame.

Fifty pages into Douglas Stuart’s atmospheric third novel you can almost feel the cold, damp air of the fictional Hebridean village of Falabay, and come to recognise its brooding and eccentric inhabitants like old friends and neighbours. Through a microcosm of everyday island life, Stuart demonstrates his finely honed skill in exploring the fundamental tensions of the human condition that have preoccupied men and women for centuries.

An omniscient narrator presides over John of John as we follow John-Calum Macleod – Cal – returning home to the Isle of Harris after student life in Edinburgh. Recently graduated from art school, Cal has been studying fashion and textiles, in an echo of the author’s own history.

The drama and (sometimes verging on implausible) twists of this novel make it feel like a soap opera, in the traditional sense of the term: small, interconnected characters and high melodrama, with domestic spaces as scenes of desire, revelation and unpredictability.

But this is not a criticism. Stuart’s lyrical prose and atmospheric narrative elevate the genre – reimagining the domestic and familial tropes by focusing on the unrequited affections of the men in the story.

Stevie Marsden is a lecturer in publishing

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John of John: weaving an island tale of secrets that lie beneath repression and shame

4. Cathedrals by Claudia Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle

Cathedrals is the latest work by Argentinian crime writer Claudia Piñeiro. Here, the crime is the murder and dismemberment of 17-year-old Ana Sardá 30 years ago. Yet, as ever in Piñeiro’s work, nothing is quite what it seems.

Each section is written from the perspective of a key character, and the truth emerges gradually as the stories intertwine. The first section is narrated by Lía, Ana’s middle sister. Cathedrals opens with Lía’s loss of faith, confirmed 30 years earlier at Ana’s funeral. This sets up a core premise of the book: how can a barbaric act that takes a human life ever be rationalised as “God’s will”?

Cathedrals is crime fiction with social comment. The characters’ experiences are connected to the sociopolitical context in Argentina: the dictatorship is still fresh, and society has not broken free of its restrictions. Poverty is rising, and religious doctrine is a powerful means of keeping women in set roles, because in the Bible: “[N]o one cares about heroines, they care about mothers and wives.” Those who think for themselves or break with expectations are ostracised.

With her characteristic edge-of-the-seat storytelling, Piñeiro exposes not only the monsters we live among, but also the society that produces them.

Helen Vassallo is an associate professor of French and translation

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Cathedrals by Claudia Piñeiro is a gripping Argentinian crime story about gender violence and the weaponisation of religion

5. Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur, translated by Faridoun Farrokh

Published in 1989, Women Without Men was banned almost immediately and Shahrnush Parsipur was imprisoned twice for writing openly about women’s sexuality and autonomy – an act of artistic courage the Islamic Republic deemed intolerable. Despite the regime’s attempts to erase it, the novella endured. It moved through underground networks and crossed borders with quiet determination.

Women Without Men follows five women who flee violent marriages, stifling social expectations, and political chaos. Together, they build a sanctuary in a garden outside Iran’s capital, Tehran. The women’s retreat is not an escape, but a feminist rupture that marks a refusal to live within a world that insists on defining them. It is a choice to build, however precariously, a space where those rules collapse.

Through mysticism and magical realism, the women’s transformations gain political force. Each metamorphosis becomes an act of resistance: women reclaiming autonomy, dignity and possibility in a society intent on erasing them.

Parsipur’s novella exposed the brutality of Iranian patriarchy with rare clarity. It did so long before global audiences recognised that violence. The novella’s first English-language publication operates as a bridge between past and present. It makes visible how the structures that constrained women’s lives in the 1950s continue to shape Iran’s political realities today.

Hind Elhinnawy is senior lecturer in social science

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Women Without Men: the feminist book that Iran’s regime has failed to silence since the 80s

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org; if you click on one of the links and go on to buy something, The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have donated $26 million to at least 20 charities this week, ahead of their wedding extravaganza in New York City.

The superstar couple, both 36, are set to officially tie the knot at Madison Square Garden in NYC on July 3, with more than 1000 guests in attendance.

A smaller, more intimate rehearsal dinner for the couple’s closest 100 friends and family will be held at the Infosys Theater inside MSG on July 2 – and Swift’s longtime friends and collaborators have been spotted on the East Coast ahead of the wedding weekend.

The charities benefiting include nine foodbanks – including one in Swift’s hometown of Reading Pennsylvania – three children’s hospitals and seven educational programs.

The announcement from the pair’s representatives to The Daily Mail reads, ‘This week, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift donated $26 million to charities across the United States. They include the following…’

The list of charities is; City Harvest New York City, Food Bank For NYC, New York Cares, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Harvesters – The Community Food Network, (Kansas City), The Store, (Nashville), Helping Harvest (Reading), Rhode Island Community Food Bank, Feeding America, ASPCA, Dolly Parton‘s Imagination Library, Grammy In The Schools, Education Through Music, Answer The Call, Musical Mentors, After-School All- Stars, After-School All-Stars, MSK Kids, the pediatric cancer program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Children & Teen and Adolescents & Young Adult (AYA) Programs, Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone and Children’s Mercy Hospital.

The A-list couple got engaged in August 2025 after two years of dating 

In the wake of the donations, The Store’s Instagram page shared a thank you post reading, ‘We’re incredibly grateful to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce for their transformative gift to The Store. 

‘Their kindness will help more families across Middle Tennessee access fresh, healthy food with dignity and choice, and we’re honored to have their support.

‘Congratulations to Taylor and Travis on your upcoming wedding! Wishing you both a lifetime of happiness as you begin this next chapter together. Thank you for helping make a difference in the lives of our neighbors.’

Jilly Stephens, CEO of City Harvest said, ‘We are incredibly grateful for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s generous $1 million donation to City Harvest. 

‘This donation is a love letter to New York, and a bold commitment to our efforts to ensure that no New Yorker goes hungry. Their support comes at a critical time, with visits to New York City soup kitchens and food pantries near record highs and expected to increase further in response to federal funding cuts.’

On Tuesday, the Daily Mail definitively confirmed that Swift’s wedding would be taking place in New York City after a key member of her entourage was spotted at the venue.

The wedding itself, initially expected to take place over the upcoming holiday weekend at Madison Square Garden, has now been nailed down as occurring on Friday, July 3.

The rehearsal dinner is said by a source to require ‘cocktail attire,’ and only family members have been invited for the pre-wedding event.

While it’s assumed that members of Swift’s squad – of which Hadid is a member – are likely to constitute her bridal party, few details have so far leaked about which of her friends will play a major part in her and Kelce’s wedding.

Ahead of the Mirrorball singer’s visit to her runway star friend, other close pals have been spotted congregating on the East Coast. 

Her friend and mentee, 26-year-old Sabrina Carpenter, was spotted enjoying a meal at Emmett’s on Grove in the West Village on Tuesday evening.

A video posted to X showed the beaming songstress chatting with friends ahead of the wedding.

The charities benefiting include nine foodbanks – including one in Swift’s hometown of Reading Pennsylvania – three children’s hospitals and seven educational programs.- Above, the couple in March

In the wake of the donations, The Store’s Instagram page shared a thank you post reading, ‘We’re incredibly grateful to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce for their transformative gift to The Store

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Swift and Kelce have allegedly dropped $160,000 for law enforcement presence at MSG on Thursday, July 2 and Friday, TMZ reported; taken on June 29

Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City holds a special place in the couple’s hearts – Swift visited just days after her The Eras tour wrapped in late 2024 – pictured with patient Baylee 

Carpenter was Swift’s opening act for 13 concerts on the 2023 Latin American leg of her blockbuster Eras Tour, before rejoining her the following year for a dozen shows split evenly between Australia and Singapore.

Two of Swift’s male pals were also spotted around New York State in recent days.

Her longtime friend and fellow singer–songwriter, Ed Sheeran, 35, was spotted enjoying the company of The National guitarist–turned–superstar record producer Aaron Dessner, 50, while in Upstate New York.

Dessner produced and co-wrote much of Swift’s Folklore and Evermore albums (both 2020), as well as bonus tracks on the deluxe 3am edition of 2022’s Midnights, before returning to work with her on much of The Tortured Poet’s Department (2024).

Sheeran and Dessner, who have previously worked together, were pictured dining at Buona Sera on the Lake in Malta, New York.

The restaurant is only about 60 miles from Dessner’s recording space, Long Pond Studio, where Swift and Sheeran have both worked with him. 

In addition to Hadid, other stars believed to be on the guest list include her sister Bella, her boyfriend Bradley Cooper, Swift’s longtime BFF Selena Gomez, Emma Stone, Lena Dunham and Zoe Kravitz.

Kelce’s football coach, Andy Reid, has already confirmed he will be attending the couple’s nuptials.

Also expected to attend are Kelce’s brother, Jason Kelce, and his teammate Patrick Mahomes, who previously revealed that he was responsible for inviting Kelce to the fateful Eras Tour concert at which he tried – unsuccessfully – to give Swift a friendship bracelet that listed his phone number.

Swift and Kelce’s wedding guests have also been left in the dark about the exact ceremony location ahead of the couple’s anticipated nuptials.

A source claimed to Us Weekly last week that lucky guests who scored an invitation to the big day have not yet been informed of the specific location.

‘Taylor and Travis told guests to be in NYC. No other location was provided,’ the insider told the outlet.

Those who received an invite were told to be in NYC on Thursday and Friday with no other information being provided.

Swift and Kelce are ‘putting their guests on hold for a couple days,’ the source said, before claiming that they have spent ‘millions’ on the wedding.

The A-list couple is allegedly planning on hosting a smaller gathering at Madison Square Garden on July 2, followed by a larger affair with roughly 1,000 attendees the next night, per the New York Times .

Earlier this week on Monday, equipment was seen being delivered and unloaded into MSG in photos taken for the Daily Mail

And on Tuesday, more pictures shot for the Daily Mail captured forklifts and additional equipment at the venue

An insider informed the Daily Mail in early June that Swift and Kelce had embraced the idea of a ‘spectacle’ wedding and selected Madison Square Garden as the venue.

Sources also previously claimed to the Daily Mail that guests who received an invitation are being required to sign an NDA before receiving information about the wedding.

Those who RSVP are then sent a link to the agreement, which requires guests not to disclose information about the wedding.

In August, Kelce proposed to Swift, and she shared photos from the intimate engagement on Instagram with the caption: ‘Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.’

The Football star had turned his backyard in Kansas City into a secret garden wonderland, which offered a romantic atmosphere.

Pointedly, Mauricio Pochettino was one of many in the dark. In ordinary circumstances, the United States securing their second-ever World Cup knockout victory against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday would have dominated the agenda for its historical context and national impact. Instead, Pochettino and his squad will leave Santa Clara for their Irvine base, 400 miles down the Californian coast, with an overwhelming sense of frustration, perhaps teetering towards infuriation.

Because despite the USA’s accomplished and well-deserved victory, there was a hot-button issue. Folarin Balogun’s second-half sending-off was clearly the major talking point. Pochettino had already voiced his dismay at the decision – “it’s never a red card, there was never [any] intention to step on the player” – when he pondered: “It should be possible to appeal the red card…”

Was it a query or a statement? He glanced over to his media officer; it was the former. Quickly, a reporter informed him that, by the black-and-white Fifa rulebook, it was not possible to appeal a red card. Article 66.4 of the regulations states: “A sending-off automatically incurs suspension from the subsequent match. The FIFA judicial bodies may impose additional match suspensions and other disciplinary measures.”

So, there you have it: not only is it not possible to appeal a verdict which bemused so many, pundits and fans alike, but the wording insinuates that the only possible modification to Balogun’s one-match sanction is an increase to two or three games. The lack of manoeuvrability, the opportunity for the US to present their case and have it assessed retrospectively, is somewhat baffling for a stage as grand as the World Cup.

US midfielder Tyler Adams, speaking afterwards, had an altogether simpler viewpoint: “Typical Fifa.”

World football’s governing body would argue the introduction of VAR (Video Assistant Referee) has negated the need for an appeals process. In real-time, the decision of an on-field referee can be reviewed and changed. Here, Brazilian referee Raphael Claus missed Balogun’s studs plunging into the calf of Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemovic as the pair battled for the ball.

The VAR trio – Juan Soto (Venezuela), Nicolas Gallo (Colombia) and Jerome Brisard (France) – directed the referee over to the monitor. Of course, by this time, we all know the decision has already been made, given that on-field officials rarely stick with their original decision once directed pitchside. Claus was shown numerous super-slow motion and still images of the incident.

Balogun was guilty of “serious foul play, defined as “challenging for the ball… with excessive force or endangering the safety of an opponent.” The freeze frame, undoubtedly, is nasty. Any fan waking up to that one image this morning may well ask: what is all the fuss about?

Yet there are two inconsistencies. First, the incident itself. As Pochettino was keen to stress, there is clearly no “intent” from Balogun. Instead, it is a collision and clashing of legs regularly seen every minute of every match, with the unfortunate consequence of the point of impact. But the bigger issue at play is the interpretation of the IFAB (International Football Association Board) rules for VAR.

In checking the footage, they state that slow-motion replay should only be used for “facts” (like the position of a player or the ball) whereas normal speed should be used for the “intensity of an offence.” Why, then, was the referee repeatedly shown a stream of slow-motion images? The incident and impact did not happen in slow motion; it should not be judged as such.

The second is recent history, involving the greatest player of his generation. In the same game that Lionel Messi opened his 2026 World Cup account with a hat-trick against Algeria, the Argentina captain did escape a card for a near-identical challenge on Aissa Mandi in the 30th minute. It was a foul, yet VAR had a look and decided against any sanction. Once again, with video reviews, the lack of consistency is exasperating.

Asked about the comparison, Pochettino opined: “For me, neither are red cards.” Yet the most obvious conclusion is undoubtedly that if Balogun’s tackle is a red card, Messi’s tackle simply has to be too.

Yet given such inconsistency, with the earlier incident setting a precedent for how such tackles should perhaps be judged, the fact that the US cannot even launch an appeal of any kind is deeply flawed. It leaves the unfortunate Balogun banned and watching on from the sidelines for the last-16 clash against Belgium in Seattle on Monday; a match which would have been the biggest of his career.

For a player who has been the co-hosts’ revelatory asset so far this summer, it is a hammer blow. Yet the notion that the decision is unrectifiable as per the rules is completely inadequate. Once again with Fifa, common sense is not the order of the day.

Emergency services raced to Johnsons of Old Hurst, near Huntingdon, and a critical incident was declared by police on June 18. 

He was rescued from the pit by staff members, including the zoo’s owners Andy and Tracey Johnson, who are said to have leapt into the enclosure.

The toddler received treatment at the scene before being rushed to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

It has since been revealed he was attacked by one of the reptiles when he ended up in the enclosure on June 18.

The boy remains in a stable condition.

In a statement issued on Thursday (July 2), Johnsons of Old Hurst described the incident as “one of the most distressing” in its history.

Police declared a critical incident after the toddler suffered serious injuries (Image: Newsquest)

A spokesperson said: “We were alerted to reports that a child had allegedly been thrown into our of crocodile enclosures in the Tropical House.

“Everyone who was on site that day acted with incredible speed and determination. Within minutes of the first radio call, the child had been rescued from the enclosure and was receiving first aid.

“The emergency services arrived very quickly, supported by the MAGPAS Air Ambulance, and we cannot thank them enough for their professionalism, compassion and dedication in such difficult circumstances.

“We would also like to express our heartfelt thanks to the visitors who stepped forward to help, including off-duty paramedics and police officers whose calm and immediate actions made a real difference.”

They added: “We are immensely proud of our own staff, who responded without hesitation and did everything they could to help and support the child until the emergency services took over.

“The kindness we have received from our local community and from people across the country has been overwhelming.

“Every message of support, every kind word and every expression of concern has meant a great deal to our family and our team during an incredibly difficult time. Thank you for standing with us.

“Above all, our thoughts remain with the young boy and his family. We continue to hope and pray for his speedy recovery and ask that they are given the privacy, compassion and support they need at this time.”

A 30-year-old from Norfolk was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder shortly after the incident (Image: Joe Giddens/PA)

A 30-year-old man from Norfolk was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder shortly after the incident.

The suspect, believed to have learning difficulties, has since been released on bail until September 18.

The force confirmed the man, who is not known to the victim, has been assessed as “not being fit for interview”.

Detectives are now reviewing CCTV at the premises in a bid to understand the circumstances surrounding the incident.

A fundraising page set up to pay for the toddler’s treatment and recovery has raised more than £22,000 days after it was first launched.

More than £22,000 has been raised for the injured toddler (Image: Joe Giddens/PA)

According to the organiser, any funds remaining after meeting the family’s needs will be donated to charities and organisations within the Addenbrooke’s Trust.

In a statement released on Wednesday (July 1), the victim’s family said: “We would like to thank the staff at the zoo who rescued our son from the enclosure.

“We are truly grateful for the public support and well-wishes we have received, as well as to everyone who has been directly involved in our son’s care and recovery in hospital.

“Our attention remains focused on his recovery and supporting him through this extremely challenging and prolonged period of time.”

It has since been revealed no safety concerns were indicated regarding the zoo’s conditions at the time of the incident.

Have you got a story you want to share? Get in touch at oliver.murphy@newsquest.co.uk

Hello and welcome to coverage from Wimbledon as Great Britain’s Jacob Fearnley takes on Jaume Munar.

Fearnley needed a wild card to get into the tournament after a difficult 12 months so fighting back from two-sets down to beat American Alex Michelsen was a real shot in the arm for the Scotsman.

“I have practised with him a lot,” said the 24-year-old. “It is not an easy match, but there are worse draws out there. Two years ago, I drew Novak [Djokovic].

“You do kind of go into the match thinking you’re in it, where sometimes when I have drawn [Alexander] Zverev second round, you kind of just go in thinking, ‘Well, I’ll try and get some games’.”

Munar, the world No 44, beat Queen’s Club champion Francisco Cerundolo in the second round.

Fearnley could receive a visit from the Princess of Wales, who is at the All England Club today. Dressed ‌in ‌a ⁠blue outfit, the 44-year-old made her way to Court 18 to watch Arthur Fery and was seated ​beside British former ‌semi-finalist Tim Henman.

On arrival ‌earlier, the Princess, who is patron of the AELTC, spent time ​meeting attendees who queued up since early ​in the morning, alongside ‌the honourary ​stewards.

Fery came from a set down to beat Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-3. It is a first appearance in the third round of a grand slam for Fery, and with Shelton exiting this quarter of the draw in the first round, the youngster from Wimbledon could yet go further still.