Margaret Blair lives at Erskine Veterans Charity’s McKellar House care home in Bishopton, and celebrated her birthday on Tuesday with friends and family.

A Scot who has celebrated her 105th birthday said the secret to a long life is “a good cup of tea with friends”. Margaret Blair, who lives at Erskine Veterans Charity’s McKellar House care home in Bishopton, enjoyed her birthday with friends and family on Tuesday.

Born on May 12, 1921, Mrs Blair grew up in her grandmother’s house in Dumbarton with her four younger siblings. She was a pupil at College Street Primary School and later Dumbarton Academy, before finding work in embroidery at the United Turkey Red Words in Dalquhurn, Renton.

She was an overseer at the Blackburn Aircraft Factory in Dumbarton during the Second World War, where Sunderland Flying Boats were created for UK forces. She enlisted in the Women’s Land Army in 1941 and was stationed at her uncle’s farm in Southmains, Milngavie, where she met her husband, Christie Blair, the son of a local gamekeeper.

Mr Blair, who served in the RAF from 1940 to 1947, served in India for a time before he returned home. The pair married in 1948 and moved into a home in Bearsden. They were happily married until Mr Blair died in 2017 while a resident at Haig House, an Erskine care home.

They have a daughter, Senga, who was born in 1957, and Mrs Blair is a grandmother to two and a great-grandmother to three. On Tuesday, she received a second royal birthday card, with a message from the King and Queen, after getting another on her 100th.

The centenarian has never been a drinker or a smoker, and says the simple things in life like home-cooked meals and good company are key to happiness and a long life. She said: “I’ve had a great life and so many happy memories over the years. I feel very fortunate to be celebrating my 105th birthday and to have reached this milestone surrounded by family, friends and everyone here at McKellar House.

“It has been lovely to spend time together and celebrate with so many familiar faces. The secret to a long life is a good cup of tea with friends, and we’ve had a few of them today.”

Ian Cumming, chief executive of Erskine Veterans Charity, said: “It is a pleasure for everyone at Erskine to celebrate Margaret’s 105th birthday.

“Reaching such a remarkable milestone is a significant occasion and a chance to recognise a life filled with memories and experiences. We are delighted to help make the day special for Margaret and to celebrate alongside her family, friends, residents and staff.”

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Katie Lewis, 29, died suddenly at home after being discharged from hospital following spinal surgery, with her death now being investigated by a coroner

A devastated father has honoured his “incredible” partner following her sudden death just 24 hours after being discharged from hospital. Cameron Lewis, 28, shared with the ECHO the tragic loss of Katie, mother to their one year old son Dylan, who passed away on April 25.

Katie, 29, had been hospitalised for a month while recuperating from an operation on her spine. Cameron revealed the family had voiced worries about what they suspected might have been blood clots in her arm post-surgery.

He said: “We asked a lot of different doctors about this but we never got anything confirmed. We obviously never thought it would be as bad as it was.”

Katie was discharged on April 24, but Cameron explained she deteriorated rapidly.

He said: “She had only come home the day before and mentioned that when she stood up she became really short of breath.”, reports the Liverpool Echo.

“She stood up to get ready for bed, looked really faint and was struggling to breathe, so I ushered her sit down. She fell and, presumably, had a fit where she lost consciousness.

“I called an ambulance after trying to get her into a safe position. When paramedics arrived she had a second fit, which killed her.

“She was scared and confused in her last moments. I tried to comfort her and calm her so they could help her, but it didn’t help.”

The coroner is now examining the circumstances surrounding Katie’s death.

Cameron explained the pair first crossed paths while at Wrexham University, where he pursued music while Katie focused on ceramics and art. In a heartfelt tribute, he remarked: “Katie was the finest person I’ve ever met. She had such a big heart. She was wary of people, but if you were lucky enough to earn her trust, she had so much love to give.

“She was so caring. No matter how small your problems were, she would take them seriously if they mattered to you.

“She was really smart and so creative.”

The pair relocated to Merseyside half a dozen years back, initially settling in Huyton before moving to Stockbridge Village this past November following Dylan’s arrival.

Cameron revealed they were captivated by Liverpool due to its vibrant music and cultural landscape.

He explained: “We’d visited a lot of different cities, but Liverpool was the closest big city to us. I’ve always loved music and The Beatles, and Katie really loved the arts.

“We loved the city and thought it would be the perfect place to settle down.”

In the aftermath of Katie’s passing, Cameron has journeyed back to Gloucester with young Dylan.

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He shared: “We could have stayed in Liverpool, but because Katie died at home it would have been very difficult to remain there.

“At the same time, leaving means leaving behind so many memories. Me and Katie didn’t really have a large support network around us, and I want Dylan to grow up with that support around him.”

Reflecting on Katie’s role as a mother, Cameron painted a picture of the profound connection she forged with their little boy.

He said: “She loved Dylan so much. She would have done anything for him. She was so calm with him; being a mum came naturally to her.

“She always wanted to do whatever made him happy. Her whole focus in life was making him smile.”

A fundraising appeal has been set up to assist with Katie’s funeral expenses, with any surplus funds earmarked for Dylan’s future care.

Reflecting on the outpouring of generosity, Cameron said: “I just want to thank anyone who chooses to donate. It’s easy to see stories like this and think of them as something far away, without realising there are real people going through it.

“So when someone takes the time to empathise and support us, I think that’s an incredibly generous thing to do.”

Those wishing to contribute to Cameron’s fundraising appeal can do so here.

Scientists might have find a new way of detecting life on other planets.

For years, scientists have been combing the Earth looking for particular molecules on other worlds that might be signs of life. But new research suggests that there might be another, more revealing way of finding them: not by looking for the molecules, but what scientists believe is a hidden order that connects them together.

The research could prove useful by allowing scientists to search through other planets using a statistical approach, rather than relying on any particular special instrument. In fact, it might be possible to find the pattern in data from instruments that have already been sent into space.

In the study, researchers borrowed an idea from ecology that measures biodiversity by how many species are present, or richness, as well as how uniformly those species are distributed, or evenness. They then applied that to extraterrestrial chemistry, looking at amino acids and fatty acids that were taken from locations including asteroids and fossils.

They found that biological samples were notably different from nonliving chemistry, with the former showing clear organisational patterns. That let them consistently and reliably separate the two different kinds of samples, as well as seeing the ways that life was preserved.

Even very degraded samples – such as fossilised dinosaur eggshells – showed those detectable statistical signatures of alien life.

The researchers noted that no one method, including the new one, is likely to prove the existence of alien life on its own. But they hope that it could become an important way of contributing to that search for alien life.

“Our approach is one more way to assess whether life may have been there,” said Fabian Klenner, who co-authored the new study. “And if different techniques all point in the same direction, then that becomes very powerful.”

The work is described in a paper, ‘Molecular diversity as a biosignature’, published in Nature Astronomy.

President Donald Trump’s push to redraw the nation’s U.S. House districts received mixed results Tuesday as South Carolina senators defied his desires, but Missouri’s top court upheld a new map that could help Republicans win an additional seat in the November midterm elections.

Rather than waning, a national redistricting battle that began 10 months ago has intensified — inflamed by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened the federal Voting Rights Act and provided grounds for states to try to eliminate voting districts with large minority populations.

Republican lawmakers in Louisiana are wrestling with how politically aggressive to be when redrawing House districts after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a majority-Black district as an illegal racial gerrymander.

The ripples of the Louisiana ruling already have led to new U.S. House districts in Tennessee and have extended to Alabama, where Republican Gov. Kay Ivey announced an Aug. 11 special primary for four of the state’s seven congressional districts. That came after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday overturned an order mandating use of a map with two largely Black districts. The state plans to switch to a map passed in 2023 that has only one majority-Black district.

Republicans think they could gain as many as 14 seats from new House maps enacted so far in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and Tennessee. Democrats, meanwhile, think they could gain six seats from new maps in California and Utah. The Virginia Supreme Court last week struck down a redistricting effort that could have yielded four more winnable seats for Democrats.

Missouri map splits Kansas City district

Missouri was the second Republican state, after Texas, to redraw its congressional districts at Trump’s urging last year. Since then, numerous other states have joined the redistricting battle.

During arguments earlier Tuesday, attorneys for voters challenging Missouri’s new map focused on changes to a Kansas City-based district long represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who previously was the city’s first Black mayor.

The new map takes a compact urban district that covered 20 miles (32 kilometers) and two counties and stretches it 200 miles (322 kilometers) over 15 counties, distorting it “into a sprawling behemoth that cuts clear across the state to unite territories that share nothing in common,” said Abha Khanna, an attorney who has represented Democrats in voting and redistricting cases across the country.

A lower court ruled in March that the map as a whole satisfied the compactness requirement, even though the Kansas City district is less compact. No Missouri court has ever struck down a congressional map for not being compact, said attorney John Gore, who defended the districts on behalf of the Republican Party.

A second case heard by the high court centered on whether the new map took effect in December, as asserted by Republican Attorney General Catherine Hanaway and Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, or whether it should have been suspended when referendum signatures were submitted.

To suspend the map before validating the signatures would let activists temporarily undercut laws by submitting boxes of fraudulent signatures, Missouri Solicitor General Lou Capozzi argued.

But to not immediately suspend the map “would dilute the referendum right, if not destroy it altogether,” said attorney Jonathan Hawley, arguing for voters who sued.

Republican officials contend the new districts can be suspended only after Hoskins determines the petition meets constitutional requirements and has enough valid signatures. Hoskins has until Aug. 4, the day of Missouri’s primary elections, to make that determination. The Supreme Court upheld the decision of a state judge in March who agreed with Republicans’ position.

Louisiana hearing leads to death threats

Louisiana state Sen. Jay Morris, a Republican who drafted redistricting bills that would eliminate one or both of the state’s majority Black districts, told lawmakers Monday that he received death threats after Friday’s contentious hearing in which he told members of the public to “shut up.”

Morris acknowledged the outburst but denied the Louisiana Democratic Party’s assertion — blasted across social media and in a press release — that he also used the derogatory term “boy” toward its executive director, Dadrius Lanus, who is Black.

State Sen. Gary Carter, one of three Black Democrats serving alongside six white Republicans on the Senate committee overseeing redistricting, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he had withdrawn from the committee “to help restore the decorum and focus that this moment demands” after shouting at Republicans during last Friday’s hearing. Carter publicly apologized on Monday to Morris and his Senate colleagues for having “lost my temper” and for any remarks that were taken as “personal attacks.”

Carter is the nephew of U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, a Democrat who represents New Orleans and is at risk of losing his seat in the redistricting process. Gary Carter is being replaced on the committee with state Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat representing New Orleans.

South Carolina weighs political risks of redistricting

The Republican push for South Carolina to join the national redistricting battle by redrawing its U.S. House map fizzled Tuesday as an initial vote in the state Senate fell short.

President Donald Trump had urged South Carolina to redraw its congressional districts ahead of the November elections in an attempt to help Republicans win another seat in the closely divided chamber. The state House had voted in favor of letting lawmakers return after the regular session ends this week to consider redistricting, and had proposed a new map that could eliminate the state’s only Democratic-held seat.

But the Senate had to give permission to take up redistricting, too.

The 29-17 vote failed, with just two votes short of the two-thirds needed. Five Republicans joined all the Democrats in the chamber to reject the proposal.

Trump said on social media Monday that he was closely watching the redistricting vote, urging South Carolina senators to “be bold and courageous” and to delay the House primaries so new districts can be drawn.

Although Republicans have a supermajority in the chamber, some GOP senators weren’t sure the proposed map would guarantee the party could unseat longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn. They also said it could push enough Democrats into other districts to backfire, resulting in a 5-2 or even a 4-3 Republican split.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey acknowledged the pressure from Trump, but said he doesn’t like being asked to bend to someone’s will instead of doing what’s best for his state.

“I got too much Southern in my blood,” Massey said. “I’ve got too much resistance in my heritage.”

___

Brook reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Chandler from Montgomery, Alabama, Collins from Columbia, South Carolina, and Lieb from Jefferson City, Missouri.

SOUTHAMPTON 2-1 MIDDLESBROUGH (2-1 agg.): Late drama at St Mary’s saw Southampton book their place at Wembley with Shea Charles’ goal enough to see off Middlesbrough

Southampton and Hull City will go head to head for a place in the Premier League after booking spots in the Championship play-off final. The Tigers became the first side to reach the final after overcoming Millwall on Monday.

They were then followed by the Saints, who were victorious in a tense affair at St Mary’s. Following all of the fall-out from the ‘spying’ drama between the two teams, it was Middlesbrough who enjoyed a dream start at St Mary’s.

Riley McGree tucked home via the help of a deflection. Ross Stewart scored in first-half stoppage time to ensure the tie headed into its final 45 minutes level once again.

It took extra-time to decide a victor, with Shea Charles’ cross going all the way into the net for Southampton, who will now take on Hull later this month, with the prize being a place in the top flight.

Despite having had a sneak peek into Middlesbrough’s preparations, Southampton did not see the Teesiders’ fast start coming. Callum Brittain trotted down the right flank and picked out McGree, who swept home via the help of a deflection.

READ MORE: Fuming Southampton and Middlesbrough managers have to be SEPARATED during angry clashREAD MORE: Fuming Southampton and Middlesbrough managers have to be SEPARATED during angry clash

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Given the build-up, it was then not a surprise to see a flash point arrive soon after. Luke Ayling and Taylor Harwood-Bellis clashed, with it being reported that the Southampton man had used ‘discriminatory remarks’. That saw both managers involved in a brief touchline scuffle.

Tonda Eckert was out of his seat again right at the end of the first-half. Ryan Manning’s powerful effort from a free-kick was tipped away, only for Stewart to nod the loose ball home from close range.

Cyle Larrin had a wonderful chance to secure victory for the Saints late on but saw his effort stopped by Sol Brynn. The Boro keeper was then alive to keep out Sam Edozie’s extra-time effort.

Southampton were to have one last chance, though. As both teams tired, Shea Charles lined up a cross, only to see it touch no one and nestle into the far corner of the Middlesbrough goal.

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And while it was Southampton who booked their place in the final, there still appears to be some legs in this one yet. It was suggested before kick-off that Southampton could be forced to forfeit the tie and even face a points deduction next season should they be found guilty of spying. An EFL disciplinary board is due to come to a decision soon.

In the meantime, attention will now turn to the Championship playoff final set to take on Wembley. Hull lie in wait for the Saints, with the Tigers having booked their place at Wembley with an impressive win at The Den.

Mohamed Belloumi had put Hull in front, with fellow substitute Joe Gelhard also scoring late on.

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Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV package

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Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.

Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.