Even as the rollout of the 5G network continues around the world, the race to design and build the sixth generation of mobile infrastructure has begun.

The new, global 6G network represents a fundamental shift in what a mobile network is built to do. Where previous generations were designed primarily as pipelines for transporting data between devices, 6G’s ambition is to treat the network as an intelligent system.

This means it is designed to be “AI native”, with artificial intelligence at its core from the outset. An example is integrated sensing and communication: radio waves that also act like radar sensors, detecting movement without the need for cameras. Real-time data collection and connectivity will be another important application in the management of largely automated urban environments.

The problem is that someone has to create 6G first – and pick up the bill. And this next technological cycle is inheriting many unresolved issues from 5G, in a technology landscape fractured by geopolitical tensions and public scepticism.

The development of 6G relies on a global conversation shaped by institutions such as the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a global collaboration of telecommunications standards organisations. Together, they have established the official 6G rollout plan, with the aim of creating the first technical standards by 2028. This would lay the groundwork for the release of the first 6G commercial networks around 2030.

As telecommunications shift from physical hardware to cloud software and AI, traditional mobile operators will find themselves reliant on the tech giants – in particular, massive cloud providers such as Amazon and Google – for storage capacity and data processing they cannot build themselves.

Yet this convergence raises some important questions. Can national infrastructure remain sovereign and secure when running on foreign cloud platforms? And how easily can governments cooperate across borders when the digital infrastructure underpinning their societies is controlled by a handful of private corporations?

A new 6G alliance

In late July, the US government announced a new 24-country 6G coalition, including the UK and 15 other European countries, India, Canada, Australia, Korea and Japan. Its stated purpose is to counteract the Chinese digital infrastructure industry under the banner of “6G leadership and security”.

This announcement takes the politics of 6G to a new geopolitical scale. This US-led bloc says it envisages 6G as the engine and heart of “technological competitiveness, economic prosperity and national security”.

The allies have only one real competitor, China, and one important lesson: not to repeat the strategic mistakes made during 5G’s development.

These were, primarily, the lack of a coordinated industrial policy, and underestimation of the complexity of the agreements that underpin this global network. Such missteps gave China a headstart on hardware, enabling its companies to dominate 5G patents and be the first to market a lot of 5G equipment.

The newly established 6G coalition has already set goals to solidify connections among governments, industry and academia within a few months. These links should evolve into a comprehensive strategy to support a secure global 6G network for the long term.

A key moment in this story will come in October 2027 – in Shanghai, China, of all places. At the ITU’s World Radiocommunication Conference 2027, governments will negotiate on how to allocate the multi-layered radio wave spectrum required for 6G. This should lay the foundations for infrastructure standardisation the following year.

But for the UK and Europe, this represents a serious dilemma. They do not possess the industrial scale to fully replace Chinese infrastructure. But they also fear escalating dependence on US big tech with the advent of 6G.

Europe’s dilemma

The EU’s flagship initiative Hexa-X and successor Hexa-X-II, funded by Nordic mobile giants Nokia and Ericsson, was conceived as a blueprint for a European 6G to tackle these issues. The primary aim is to produce technologies that can operate autonomously, outside both US and Chinese hardware and software.

In the UK, the recent dissolution of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and migration of the digital infrastructure portfolio to the new Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, created weeks of uncertainty across the UK tech sector. This came at a crucial time for determining what the future looks like for 6G research and development nationally.

Local UK mobile operators are still decommissioning legacy 2G and 3G infrastructure, and are close to decommissioning traditional telephone landlines. They are also striving to reap the benefits of the 5G network. It is not easy for the UK to assert leadership in mobile networks abroad while wrestling with all these issues at home.

Right now, the core values of the 6G technology that will define the next decade are already being decided. Future AI-native networks will come with a higher energy bill, so one key challenge is how to minimise energy consumption and maintain a path towards a sustainable technology.

Deploying new infrastructure also risks reigniting the intense public anxieties seen during the 5G rollout. Fears about electromagnetic radiation and surveillance quickly escalated into conspiracy theories linked to a history of health concerns about wireless technologies, and the tendency to exclude citizens from infrastructure design and deployment.

Getting 6G right demands a broader approach to building this new global network – as most participants agree. Including citizens in this process could be a powerful tool, demonstrating from the outset that infrastructure is never just a technical or engineering endeavour. It is also a political and social issue that will shape all our futures.

Former Manchester United star Alejandro Garnacho only joined Aston Villa from Chelsea in the summer but the forward could potentially be on the move once again, with clubs already eyeing him

Alejandro Garnacho is reportedly being monitored by Spanish clubs after a difficult start to life with Aston Villa. The former Manchester United man only joined the Midlands side on a season-long loan deal in the summer from Chelsea.

But Garnacho, 22, has been limited to just 31 minutes of action so far this season, and has not even come off the bench in any of Villa’s last three games.

His switch to Villa Park will become permanent for a fee of around £43million should certain conditions be met. But that already appears unlikely.

According to Mail Online, clubs in La Liga are watching Garnacho’s situation. The forward was actually born in Madrid and had a spell with Atletico Madrid’s academy before his switch to Manchester United.

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Asked recently what Garnacho needs to do to earn an opportunity with the club, Villa boss Unai Emery said: “Continue working. Work, work, train, work.

“When he can have minutes to play, try to play well. He is progressing, but we have players in front of him now. George Hemmings is playing fantastic. Alysson is also understanding things well and is giving us things I want. [Ibrahim] Mbaye also responded well.

“We want a competitive team and players to compete in the style we have. Garnacho is a little bit behind because of some circumstances we had in pre-season. It is time to be patient for the time he needs.”

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Having been left out of the latest Argentina squad, he will now join Villa on a mid-season training camp in Spain, where he will certainly hope to catch Emery’s eye.

Garnacho’s career has taken a sharp downturn over recent seasons. After scoring 26 goals in 144 appearances for Manchester United, he left the club in a £40m move to Premier League rivals Chelsea last summer.

He netted eight goals in 43 appearances for Chelsea across his debut campaign but just one of those came in the Premier League. New boss Xabi Alonso made it clear that he had little future at Stamford Bridge ahead of his move to Villa. Garnacho has just under six years remaining on his current contract at Stamford Bridge.

Villa have a just under three-week wait for their next Premier League game which is set to come against Brentford on October 10. They will then take on Fenerbahce in their first Champions League home game of the campaign.

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She spent three years and £50,000 fighting her local council for the right to walk through her own back gate. 

But after winning a legal battle against Derbyshire County Council over access to her home, Helene Ball now has a fresh fight on her hands after giant concrete ‘Lego’  blocks were dumped outside her property. 

The retired teacher, 81, accused the council of pettiness after it put the 2ft blocks along a narrow wall near her home after her legal victory. 

She first took action against the council after discovering one morning in April 2023 that a metal fence had been cemented over a 98cm gap in her rear garden wall.

The gap leads into an adjoining council-owned car park, but Mrs Ball, who has lived at the house in Matlock since 1967, said she and her family had used the route unopposed for more than 40 years.   

Mrs Ball argued that her continued access amounted to prescriptive rights to access the route and a judge later ruled in her favour – with the access now being added to the deed for the land.

The council was also ordered by the courts to pay Mrs Ball’s costs of around £50,000 and to ensure her pedestrian and vehicular access is not impeded again. 

But Mrs Ball was shocked to then discover 54 huge ‘Lego-style’ blocks placed outside her home.

The 2ft-high bricks line the narrow road behind her property and the grass verge alongside her garden wall.

The 54 concrete bricks line the street outside Mrs Ball’s home in Matlock, Derbyshire

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Derbyshire County Council admitted it had been ‘unreasonable’ to erect the original green fence at the centre of the dispute

Mrs Ball, who has two grown-up children and four grandchildren, said: ‘It’s just so petty of the council to do this after they lost the case, but they have been spiteful from the start.

‘The judge said I had a right of access by foot and by car to the rear of my house.

‘However, the council have made it impossible to drive a car up the road and turn round, it’s ridiculous.’

The fence panel was installed two weeks after the second anniversary of the death of Mrs Ball’s husband, Brian, and was viewed as a ‘completely unnecessary act of aggression’ by her family. 

The gap led to a car park which residents were allowed to use at weekend but it closed three years ago while the council tried to sell the land for houses.

The court ruling from Judge Robert Brown said legal representation from the council was ‘surprisingly combative’ given its ‘limited evidence’ and ‘unsubstantiated assertions’. 

Judge Brown found parts of the legal representation for the council ‘totally irrelevant’, ‘most unhelpful’ and even described the litigation as ‘pugnacious’.

Now, Mrs Ball is preparing for another legal battle to force the council to remove the blocks.

Her son David, 50, who has been carrying out legal work on behalf of his mother, said: ‘The council have not acted in the spirit of the law.

‘Our legal team are investigating whether the council are interfering with access to my mum’s home.

‘Basically my mum won her case but the council have made it impossible for her to use the access road which she has used since she moved here in the 1960s.’

The fence which started the three-year legal dispute about access

The 2ft-high bricks line the narrow road behind her property and the grass verge alongside her garden wall.

Derbyshire County Council admitted it had been ‘unreasonable’ to erect the original green fence at the centre of the dispute.

A spokesman said: ‘It would not be appropriate to comment further on matters that have been considered by the court other than that the council has a duty to safeguard its legal interests in public assets, including land that it owns and manages on behalf of residents.

‘Where issues arise concerning council-owned land or access rights, the council has a responsibility to consider the matter carefully and, where appropriate, defend any action.

‘Its actions are always guided by its statutory duties.’

The installation of the fence and legal challenge started under the previous Conservative-controlled councl, but the continuation and final tribunal court hearing took place under Reform UK control.

A woman and three children have died in a house fire on Merseyside.

Six fire engines were at the scene at the height of the blaze at the semi-detached property in Stone Square in Bootle, Sefton, at 03:45 BST.

Eight firefighters searched the house where they discovered four people in an upstairs bedroom who were showing no signs of life, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service said.

Another casualty, who was outside the property when crews arrived, was taken to hospital.

Officers from Merseyside Police are also at the scene and a joint investigation with the fire service into the cause of the blaze is under way.

The North West Ambulance Service’s hazardous area response team also attended the scene of the fire and confirmed the four fatalities.

Chief Fire Officer Nick Searle confirmed the “intense fire [had] spread very rapidly”.

The street was cordoned off by police and, earlier, fire officers could be seen knocking on neighbours’ doors.

One said: “I heard shouting in the early hours but I just thought someone was having an argument, then I came downstairs and saw all the fire engines.”

Another local resident, who did not want to be named, said: “We all came out on the front and we could see smoke coming over from the houses.

“The sirens woke me up and there were fire engines in the street.”

The fire service said the main blaze had been extinguished with crews damping down the area.

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon joined fellow Liberal Democrat MPs Victoria Collins, Sarah Olney and Lisa Smart in urging the Prime Minister to fast-track the AI Bill promised in the 2024 King’s Speech and convene an emergency AI summit.

In a letter, the MPs said the government should build on the King’s previous warnings about the “existential” risks posed by AI if the technology falls into the wrong hands.

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“This technology isn’t going to wait for Whitehall’s usual timetable, and neither should we” (Image: Supplied)

Mr Gordon said: “Lib Dem colleagues are right to push for this, and I back them wholeheartedly.

“The government promised an AI Bill in the King’s Speech back in 2024. We’re still waiting.

“An Emergency AI Summit would force the pace. This technology isn’t going to wait for Whitehall’s usual timetable, and neither should we.

“I’d urge the Prime Minister to act on this without further delay.”

A government spokesperson said the UK recognised the need to ensure its approach keeps pace with “rapidly evolving” AI technology.

They said: “These risks cross borders, so we are working closely with the companies developing the most advanced systems, and with our allies and international partners.

“That includes building a rigorous, scientific understanding of the capabilities of the most advanced AI systems and the risks they pose through our AI Security Institute.”

‘The government must take action’

The AI Security Institute is a government research body responsible for evaluating safeguards for advanced AI models.

Concerns intensified after leaders of xAI, Anthropic and OpenAI called for greater global co-operation, including between the US and China, as well as independent oversight to ensure AI models remain aligned with human values and were kept under human control.

The MPs have called on the Prime Minister to fast-track an AI Bill promised in the King’s Speech in 2024 and convene an emergency AI summit in response to calls from AI leaders about the risks associated without regulation (Image: Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Liberal Democrat MP Victoria Collins said in the letter: “When the people building this technology, who have every commercial incentive to press ahead, tell us they are afraid of what they are building, the government must take action.”

They argued that the UK was in a “unique position” to bring together nations as a global technology leader and trusted international partner.

Mr Gordon said: “I’ve just spent months sitting on the Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry into AI regulation, hearing evidence on exactly this.

“The picture that emerged was stark: AI is already being used to profile people, screen job applications and scan people’s faces in public without consent – and when it goes wrong, people have no real way to challenge it or get redress.”

In response, a government spokesperson said: “We should not assume that the existing framework will always be sufficient as AI capabilities develop.

“Any future measures will be evidence-based and focused on whether they will make the British people safer, and as the AI Minister has set out: nothing is off the table.”

Subway’s first town centre store will finally open its doors this week, on Thursday, September 24, after months of work on the new unit.

The store has been fitted out at 43 Dalton Way, in the former Carver Residential estate agents.

Dalton Way in Newton Aycliffe where Subway is opening (Image: GOOGLE)

Work on the new Subway progressed in July, with electrical work completed and the unit being fitted out.

The Northern Echo previously reported the store was expected to open by the end of July, after plans initially targeted a May 2026 opening at the beginning.

Newton Aycliffe town-centre bosses confirmed the opening date on Facebook.

In its latest Facebook update, town-centre bosses wrote: “That unmistakable Subway smell…

“That’s right… The bread is baking, the toppings are waiting, and we’re getting very close!

“Subway Newton Aycliffe is nearly ready to open its doors!

“And because we know you’re curious (we are too), keep your eyes peeled tomorrow for a little sneak peek behind the scenes.

“We’ll be showing you what’s been going on behind the scenes as they get everything ready for opening day on Thursday!

“Not long now… the countdown is on.”

File image of a Subway (Image: UGC)

Subway is known for its made-to-order sandwiches, salads and freshly baked bread, with customers able to choose from a range of fillings and toppings.

The new store is the first Subway to open in Newton Aycliffe town centre.

Subway was founded in 1965 when 17-year-old Fred DeLuca teamed up with family friend Dr Peter Buck, who invested $1,000 to launch a submarine sandwich shop.

Before the Newton Aycliffe launch, the nearest Subway branches were in Darlington and Ferryhill.

“Whether you’re commuting, meeting friends or exploring the city, cycling is often one of the quickest, most convenient and most affordable ways to get around. By offering a 50 per cent discount on a Santander Cycles Monthly Pass, we’re making it even easier for more people to experience the benefits of cycling.

By JAMES TOZER, NORTHERN CORRESPONDENT

Published: 16:52 BST, 22 September 2026 | Updated: 16:56 BST, 22 September 2026

As Microsoft confirms almost 300 new job losses across Xbox, the chances of Ninja Theory surviving the bloodbath have decreased dramatically.

Just as the rumours suggested, Microsoft has announced another new round of layoffs across all of its Xbox studios, with Rare and Halo being put under the control of Activision, and Bethesda taking responsibility for Obsidian Entertainment.

All of that will entail job cuts of various amounts, but at least the studios will continue in some fashion. British studio Ninja Theory may well not be so lucky though, as Microsoft has not been able to find a buyer for the company, which is best known for the likes of Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey To The West, DmC: Devil May Cry, and Hellblade.

According to Microsoft, two separate attempts to sell off Ninja Theory have fallen through and they will now, ‘begin consultation with employees on a proposed closure while continuing to explore other paths forward.’ That leaves a sliver of hope that they could be saved but it doesn’t look good.

Although Hellblade has never been a big seller, a third entry in the series was recently announced, with analysts suggesting the early announcement, without a release date, was done specifically to make the company seem more desirable to potential buyers.

Ninja Theory was also thought to be an attractive purchase because of their high quality motion capture studio, but it may be that the asking price was too much.

There’s no indication of who was interested in buying them, or why the deals fell through, but Microsoft’s statement makes it sound like they’ve all but given up now.

This is all part of the big ‘reset’ of Xbox, initiated by new boss Asha Sharma, that will see 3,200 staff laid off before July 2027. 1,600 went this July, so with 268 losses today that still means 1,332 more people at Xbox are going to lose their jobs sooner rather than later.

The only positive to come from the mass layoffs is that studios Compulsion and Double Fine have successfully returned to being independent companies, although the latter, at least, has had to lay off staff itself, in order to keep going.

As part of today’s announcements, Undead Labs was also announced as having gone independent, having apparently secured a publishing deal with an unnamed party. It’s unclear if that means State Of Decay 3 will now be a multiformat release, but Microsoft is boasting that it will be a day one Game Pass title.

Meanwhile, the fate of Dishonored and Deathloop Arkane Studios, who are supposed to be working on Marvel’s Blade, remains uncertain. Since they’re based in France, they have stronger labour laws protecting them and Microsoft states only that ‘consultation’ is expected to ‘continue through the end of the year.’

It’s unclear what will result from that but the chances of them continuing on as before, without either being shut down or folded into another company (most likely Bethesda) seems remote.

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