Opposition is mounting to Belfast City Council’s plans to extend Sunday trading hours, with retail groups warning the move could harm workers and independent businesses

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Several organisations have voiced strong opposition to Belfast City Council’s latest public consultation on extending Sunday trading hours during periods of high tourist and visitor numbers.

The council launched the consultation on Monday, March 23, inviting feedback from residents, visitors and business representatives on plans to introduce a ‘holiday resort’ designation across the city.

If approved, the designation would allow larger stores — those with a floor space exceeding 280 square metres — to open for extended hours during certain periods. This would be for up to 18 Sundays between March 1 and September 30 each year, excluding Easter Sunday.

Elected members previously agreed in principle to explore the move in July last year. The outcome of the consultation, which runs on the Your Say Belfast platform until May 14, will help inform a final decision. However, retail trade union Usdaw said it is disappointed the issue has been revisited.

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Usdaw General Secretary Joanne Thomas said similar proposals had been considered multiple times in recent years including in 2024, 2020 and 2017 — with the same conclusion reached on each occasion.

She said: “Usdaw is disappointed that the issue of extended Sunday trading hours in Belfast is yet again being discussed by the City Council. Repeatedly considering extending Sunday trading hours is a distraction from tackling the real issues that impact the retail sector.

“Usdaw has repeatedly fully committed to working with Belfast City Council and others to support and improve the retail experience at the weekend and for tourists. Our members remain opposed to extending Sunday trading hours.

Allowing large stores to open for longer on Sundays would have a negative impact on retail workers, their families and our communities. Longer Sunday trading would take a heavy toll on staff who would come under even more pressure to work, when they would rather be spending time with family and engaging in community, sports and leisure activities or attending church.

“There would also be a detrimental impact on smaller retailers who can already open longer hours on Sundays. These traders rely on the boost in trade they get on Sunday morning, with St George’s Market being a prime example. Even supporters of extended Sunday opening hours have not been able to show it will lead to economic benefits or job creation. Put simply, opening shops for longer does not mean people have more money to spend.

“We all want to see a strong and diverse retail sector in Belfast and across the nation, but that means striking the right balance. We urge City Councillors to listen to the majority of shop workers and retailers who do not want extended Sunday trading.”

Retail NI Chief Executive Glyn Roberts said: “To completely deregulate Sunday trading and create another normal shopping day shows a poverty of ambition and ideas for the city. It is an idea that belongs to the past and not to a modern progressive 21st century City.

“We need new thinking to animate Sunday mornings and offer shoppers and visitors something different. This proposal will provide large multinationals with even more trading time, directly at the expense of small independent retailers who use trading time on Sunday mornings to sustain their business.”

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The 32-year-old who will be a notable absentee from the Donegal team when they contest Sunday’s NFL Division 1 final

The surgeon gave it to Paddy McBrearty straight after the fourth operation on his left knee in a decade last October. Time to consider retirement.

So it’s tempting to feel sorry for the 32-year-old who will be a notable absentee from the Donegal team when they contest Sunday’s NFL Division 1 final.

Then again, he almost walked away himself anyway at the end of Donegal’s horror 2023 season, when the future looked particularly grey and bleak. Donegal were relegated from Division 1 that season, were beaten by Down in Ulster and tanked by Tyrone in the All-Ireland series.

That he got two more Ulster titles out of it before retiring, captaining Donegal both seasons, means McBrearty actually did pretty well for himself.

It was his persistence that ultimately got Jim McGuinness to return to the Donegal hotseat for 2024.

And if he hadn’t gone to the lengths he did, calling to his former manager’s door uninvited the morning after Donegal’s 2023 Championship exit, these glory days probably wouldn’t have returned.

McBrearty was captain in 2023 and said: “It was a difficult period, standards had slipped big time. I suppose the position I was in, I took it really, really to heart.

“You learned a lot that year. You knew who was in it for the right reasons and who was only in it for the good days. That’s when you know the really, really good lads.

“Personally, if Jim wasn’t going to come back in at the end of the 2023 season, I probably would have thought about retiring then.

“Because I was coming off a really serious hamstring injury, my business was starting at that stage and I wanted to give that a proper rattle. I wasn’t going to stay on for a rebuild.

“I was glad to get two more years out of it. I had 13 years done at that stage in 2023.”

And yet the surgeon’s words were still hard to hear last October, after the operation in Santry. The rest of the Donegal team were in Cancun at the time, their reward for reaching the All-Ireland final.

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The 32-year-old GAA+ pundit for 2026 said: “It was my fourth surgery on the left knee. I partially tore my cruciate back in 2015 and completely ruptured the cruciate badly in 2018. I came back and got a few years out of it.

“At the end of 2024, I had to go in and get a cartilage repair, meniscus repair. Halfway through the season last year, it was just wear and tear basically, but I didn’t want to know the nature of the injury until after the season.

“I got a scan, bit of damage, got the meniscus cleaned again, got the cartilage cleaned up again. The surgeon then came out and said, ‘Listen, there’s extensive damage there. You need to have a few thoughts about the future. What do you want life to look like at 40?’

“That’s what his exact words were, ‘What would you like your Tuesdays and Thursdays to look like?’

“I said I would like if I was fit to be able to play a bit of astroturf. He said, ‘Well, these are the things you need to consider then’. I took his words on board, got a second opinion, same kind of diagnosis.

“I don’t think I would have contributed a lot this year, to be honest, by the time I got back and was up to the pace of it.”

In only slightly different circumstances, McBrearty could have ended his career with a Hallmark moment – by captaining Donegal to All-Ireland final success against Kerry last July.

He said: “We didn’t get a lot wrong on the day. Obviously I would say there’s a few things that would be changed. We lost the game by 10 points but there was 10 minutes to go and we were only a few points down. I remember I missed a shot into the Canal End.

“I’ve thought about it a lot since, it was a shot that I should have nailed.”

Those are the regrets that beaten All-Ireland finalists have to live with. Even winning Sunday’s Division 1 decider at the expense of Kerry wouldn’t bring any great closure for them, although it would be a statement of summer intent.

McBrearty said: “We had a really good year last year but there was a lot of hurt there as well and a lot of the team would have carried that through the winter. It’ll be interesting to see how they get on on Sunday. I’d say Donegal will want to lay down a marker.”

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Mohamed Salah’s Liverpool career is coming to an end.

After nine years, 435 appearances and 255 goals for the Reds, Salah has announced this will be his last season at Anfield.

Liverpool‘s third-highest scorer of all time will undoubtedly leave as one of the Reds’ greatest players, but where does he rank in terms of Premier League icon status?

BBC Sport looks at some of the league’s best-ever forwards and asks you to decide where he ranks. As always, this is not an exhaustive list.

Do you judge them purely on goals, maybe it is their contribution to their teams, their success or all-round involvement?

There is plenty for you to get your head around before ranking them below.

Officers have issued the warning after a recent rise in Toyota Hilux thefts across the county, with similar incidents reported in neighbouring areas.

The Hilux, a popular 4×4 pickup truck, is commonly used by rural communities and farmers, making it a prime target for organised vehicle theft.

Sergeant Lauren Wilkinson, of Richmondshire Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “While no security system is foolproof, taking precautionary measures will significantly reduce the risk of theft or damage to your Toyota Hilux.

“More and more vehicles in our area being protected by trackers and other security systems, making life extremely difficult for thieves.

“By continuing to invest in high-quality crime prevention kit, parking in secure locations, and remaining vigilant, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your vehicle is as well-protected as possible.”

Officers are carrying out crime prevention patrols in rural areas and are advising owners of Hilux and other at-risk vehicles to take action.

They recommend fitting tracking devices, steering wheel locks, immobilisers, and CCTV systems to help deter theft and improve the chances of recovery.

Police also believe some of the thefts may involve keyless entry technology, known as ‘relay theft’.

This technique uses devices to capture the signal from a key fob inside the owner’s home, tricking the vehicle into unlocking and allowing the engine to be started.

To minimise the risk of relay theft, police advise owners to keep key fobs well away from the car and to store them in signal-blocking pouches such as Faraday bags.

Other recommended steps include reprogramming keys after purchasing second-hand vehicles and turning off the wireless signal on key fobs when not in use.

North Yorkshire Police are offering crime prevention visits to help residents improve the security of their vehicles and property.

Anyone interested in arranging a visit can contact lauren.wilkinson@northyorkshire.police.uk.

A homelessness crisis has surged after average property prices in Scotland jumped by 47 per cent and average monthly private rents by 51 per cent, with a lack of supply blamed.

Scotland’s housing emergency is “going from bad to worse” as new figures show thousands of Scots children have spent more than a year living in temporary accommodation.

The Liberal Democrats said tackling the housing emergency was “clearly not a priority” for the SNP ahead of May’s Holyrood election.

Families which find themselves homeless for whatever reason must register with their local authority before they can be found a social housing tenancy.

But a nationwide shortage of affordable properties – particularly in Edinburgh and Glasgow – means families are routinely offered temporary accommodation such as hostels or B&Bs.

Figures provided from Scotland’s local authorities via Freedom of Information requests show that between 2020 and 2025, total of 17,811 children were trapped in temporary accommodation for longer than a year.

This included a total of 10,147 children in Edinburgh and 3,742 children in Glasgow. In 2024, 3,504 children waited over a year in temporary accommodation- the highest level of the five-year period.

The Scottish Lib Dems, which obtained the FOI responses, said it was further proof that John Swinney’s decision to appoint Mairi McAllan as Housing Secretary had failed.

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Lib Dem housing spokesman Paul McGarry said: “These figures lay bare the SNP’s catastrophic neglect.

“As Housing Secretary, Mairi McAllan was supposed to offer a fresh start, but things have gone from bad to worse. Housing is clearly not a priority for the SNP.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats have set out a realistic plan to tackle a lack of availability and poor-quality homes.

“We want to see change with fairness at its heart, which starts by confronting the housing crisis head-on: getting more homes built, maximising existing stock and giving everyone a safe place to call home.”

It comes after a damming report this week warned the SNP Government had built 250,000 fewer homes than it previously promised after first being elected.

The newly elected Scottish Government pledged in 2007 to increase the number of new homes built per year to 35,000 – which it described as “achievable and necessary”.

But annual housebuilding is instead down 26 per cent since 2007-08, with just 19,177 homes completed in 2024–25 – from a peak of 25,788 in 2007–08.

Modelling shows this leaves a total shortfall of a quarter of a million homes against the 2007 pledge – equivalent to the population of Edinburgh or twice the size of Aberdeen.

The Scottish Fabian Society this week blamed “unambitious, restrictive and counterproductive” policy choices which has decimated private sector housing provision.

This failure is a significant contributor to the housing emergency in Scotland, the study argues. In the last decade, average property prices have risen by 47 per cent and average monthly private rents by 51 per cent.

More than 190,000 people are pushed into poverty because of their high housing costs, the report finds – including 35,000 children.

McAllan said: “Temporary accommodation is an important safety net for those who need it. This is especially true in Scotland where our protective anti-homelessness laws mean everyone is entitled to temporary accommodation if they need it.

“In the vast majority of cases this is council homes and flats where people and families can live until moved to permanent accommodation. Therefore while a roof over a family’s head is a vital safety net we of course want the time spent there to be as short as possible.

“The key to reducing time spent in temporary accommodation is delivering more affordable homes and preventing homelessness in the first place – both of which we are determinedly delivering.

“Having delivered 141,000 affordable homes since 2007, we are ramping up activity with a record £4.9 billion in the coming four years. This will see 36,000 more affordable homes delivered.

“While those homes are being built, we have also been providing £120 million to councils so they buy homes off the market immediately, getting people out of temporary and into settled accommodation.”

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Wingstop is showing no signs of slowing down!

Wingstop just landed in Belfast at the beginning of March – but it already has plans to expand across the country.

The Boucher Road location opened, with huge queues forming as everyone tried to get their hands on the famous wings. However, according to the NI Planning Portal, it is set to open two further locations.

‘Lemon Pepper Holdings’, the parent company for Wingstop, has submitted plans to open a store in Belfast City Centre. It is set to open its doors on Castle Place right in the heart of the city.

The site, which previously operated as a Costa Coffee, has been secured by the company. There are no further details just yet on when this location is set to open.

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However, the expansion plans don’t stop there, with Wingstop signage being spotted in Dundonald. According to Wingstop’s recruitment site ‘Harri’, it will be opening in Unit 9, East Point Entertainment Village, Kings Rd. It will be found beside already established food spots like Sugar Rays.

The opening of the restaurant in Belfast comes hot on the heels of Wingstop launching its first restaurant in Ireland at Liffey Valley, Dublin in December 2025.

Known for its bold range of sauces and seasonings, from the fan-favourite Lemon Pepper to the sweet heat of Mango Habanero, the smoky kick of Louisiana Rub and the daring Atomic, Wingstop’s menu of wings, boneless, tenders, burgers, loaded fries, milkshakes and churros has already made it a viral hit across TikTok and beyond.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Jennifer Grey, who shot to fame after starring as Frances “Baby” Houseman in the iconic 1987 romantic drama film, Dirty Dancing opposite Patrick Swayze – is turning 66 this week

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Jennifer Grey impressed fans with a string of photos snapped at the beach ahead of her 66th birthday. The beloved actor will celebrate another year around the sun on March 26.

A few weeks prior to her birthday celebrations, the Dirty Dancing star went on an “overdue” trip with her friend and fellow actor Tracy Pollen. On Instagram, Jennifer shared a carousel of images from the getaway, including one photo which shows her sitting on a pink beach towel in the sand while sporting a black bikini, her famous brunette curls blowing slightly in the wind.

In the second image – a selfie – the two friends can be seen smiling at the camera with the bright blue sky in the background. In the third, Jennifer can be seen standing ankle-deep in the ocean, sporting a black swimsuit, while she gazes off to the side.

The fourth and final image is another selfie, this time of the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off alum sitting in front of a rocky cliff face. In it, she wears a blue vest top with a matching neck tie.

In the caption accompanying the images, Jennifer simply penned: “Long overdue girls trip @tracy.pollan [white heart emoji] giggled like we were back in high school.”

Meanwhile, in the comments section, her fans were keen to share their thoughts. One person said: “Love the wild hair! You look fantastic darling!!” Another said: “Looking fabulous.”

A third said: “Gorgeous!!! I love a girls trip!!” while a fourth commented: “Beautiful.” Someone else said: “So sweet. Beautiful lady.”

Another said: “Ageless goddess,” as someone else enthused: “I love Jennifer Grey!! Fantastic actress & such a beauty!!”

Jennifer Grey made her acting debut in 1984 in the film Reckless, following it up with a role in the action drama Patrick Swayze-fronted action film, Red Dawn.

She went on to star in John Hughes’ beloved teen comedy classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which introduced her to a much wider audience, in 1986.

The following year, she was catapulted to worldwide fame after starring as Frances “Baby” Houseman in the iconic romantic drama, Dirty Dancing, again opposite Patrick Swayze.

The leading stars famously clashed during production due, in part, to a negative working experience on Red Dawn, in which Grey found Swayze’s macho pranks to be frustrating and off-putting.

Their electrifying chemistry in Dirty Dancing helped ensure the film’s legacy. To this day, it boasts an army of fans.

Speaking about their relationship in a video with People, Jennifer explained: “I was cast first and I thought the part of Johnny Castle was going to be some swarthy, young, Latin New Yorker, dangerous type – not this guy that I just did Red Dawn with from Texas, who was really bossy and played pranks.”

She continued: “I was scared. It was my first lead and I wanted to make sure it was really gonna work – and I knew that I had no chemistry with him, and I knew that I didn’t really feel like he was my cup of tea.

“I just thought, ‘well, he’s very attractive, he’s very talented,’ but I’d had some funky times with him that were making me very, very unsure if that was gonna be a match.

“I wanted it to work, I wanted to have chemistry and I knew there was no chemistry between us – but there was energy between us.”

She added: “I believe that energy, especially if it’s two intense people, maybe even at odds with each other, or something’s up; is hotter than two people who are just gaga for each other.”

Kate and Rio Ferdinand appear to have moved to Portugal, leaving Dubai not long after the region was hit by missiles due to the ongoing conflict between Iran and the US

As war in the Middle East continues, TV star Kate Ferdinand and her footballer husband Rio are said to have swapped their home in Dubai for the dreamy Algarve in Portugal.

The couple have reportedly moved to their luxury home near Quinta do Lago, have headed to the holiday home after Dubai was hit by missiles from Iran. Tensions in the region are reaching breaking point as the US and Iran grapple over the Strait of Hormuz.

Many celebs who live in Dubai have spoken about how scary Dubai has become since tensions escalated, including Rio, who said: “It’s frightening when you hear missiles, planes and fighter jets – I don’t know what it is – going above us, and you’re hearing big bombs, and what that is we don’t know as we don’t know the details of what they are.”

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This comes months after Kate broke down in tears following the Christmas break, revealing how much she missed her family in the UK. “I just miss my family and friends,” she said. She added: “I do feel happy in Dubai, but I’m just missing a part of me.”

As such, some might have expected the family to return to the UK when they left Dubai, but they have instead chosen Portugal. Kate and Rio moved to the country with their younger children, Cree, 5, and Shae, 2, along with Rio’s daughter Tia, 13, rater than the UK, where the footballer’s eldest two, Lorenz, 19, and Tate, 17, still live. A source has revealed to the Mirror the real reason they chose the Algarve as their new home.

The source revealed that there was “nothing appealing” about England, but the family wanted to be closer to the country so that it was easier for family to visit.

“Why be in England when there’s nothing appealing? There’s nothing appealing for them to come back to. Portugal is also easier for the families to get to die to the shorter flights. They’ll eventually return back to the UK, but at the moment, there’s more for them as a family in Portugal.” They added that the whole family “is flying over to Portugal for Easter”, meaning everyone will be together very soon.

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Portugal may also offer up more business opportunities. Rio left his role as a sports pundit for TNT last year and now pals say the ex-footballer, who already invests in other business and set up the charity The Rio Ferdinand Foundation, is thinking about getting into the booze business.

“They’re loving it in Portugal,” said the source. “They don’t get hassled, unless Rio is on the golf course where he does his business. He’s thinking about getting into vineyards and wines.”

They added that “day to day, Kate does mum things and Rio works”. As such, Portugal works well for them, and was the right choice for their young family.

The source said: “Portugal has always been a sort of second home as well. And there’s a lot more, there’s some really good schools there. And they’ve got good friends there, so it’s a really good expat area they’re going into.”

Portugal is famed for being a hotspot for digital nomads and has become the place to go for Americans looking to leave the US, according to The Guardian. This is reportedly because it ranked seventh in the Global Index, has a low cost of living and freedom of movement in the EU. Now, it appears to be drawing in UK expats as well.

For Kate, the key draw is the country’s proximity to the UK. “Kate loves having her family closer, Portugal is much more commutable,” the source said. “

It makes her more accessible to family and friends. Being able to have them over is a massive plus. And it’s a much better expat community. It’s not so ‘do you know who I am and how much I’m worth?’. Dubai is very bling, Portugal is where people live. Its a home not a posing pad. Kate won’t be on her own much anymore and she’s got a network, so she’s happy.”

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Warning this article contains spoilers about the new Amazon Prime series Young Sherlock.

I’ve read the whole Sherlock Holmes canon multiple times over. I love how Holmes uses analytical reasoning to unravel problems that look mysterious, but ultimately prove to have simple explanations. So I was excited when I saw Guy Ritchie’s Young Sherlock appear on Amazon Prime. My excitement was quickly tempered when I started watching, though.

A key part of the plot relies on mathematics. Holmes first meets his sidekick Moriarty (yes, he is working together with his future adversary) at the blackboard after a maths lecture at Oxford. Despite some mistakes in the dialogue, the maths on the blackboard is interesting enough. It is finding the solutions to the equation x⁵ + x⁴ + x³ + x² + x + 1 = 0. As shown nicely in this video, the equation has five solutions.

In the maths many of us will have learned at school, we are taught that a positive times a positive makes a positive and that a negative times a negative also makes a positive. For example, 3 times 3 equals 9, but -3 times -3 also equals 9. Squaring a number (when you multiply a number by itself) should always give a positive result. The reverse operation – finding the number(s) you multiply together to give a positive number – is called taking the square root. The two square roots of 9 are 3 and -3, since when you square either of these numbers you get the answer 9.

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Taking a leap of faith into imaginary numbers opens new doors in the real world through complex analysis

If we want to take the square root of -1, say, then we need to venture into the realm of imaginary numbers. Imaginary numbers are the square roots of negative numbers. Mathematicians defined the imaginary number i to be the square root of -1 (technically -1 has two square roots i and -i). The square roots of other negative numbers are multiples of i. The square roots of -9, for example are 3i and -3i. Some of the solutions from the equation on the blackboard involve imaginary numbers (this will turn out to be an important plot point).

Mathematical blunders

It’s plausible that the equation on the blackboard might appear in an early first year undergraduate tutorial. Something approaching a passable solution is given, but in excruciating detail (the sort of detail you wouldn’t use at school, let alone in a maths degree at Oxford). And there are mistakes in the maths.

Towards the end of the lecture, the professor sets the students homework to find all the solutions to the equation, even though they are already written on the board (although incorrectly). Despite this, the end of the scene sees Sherlock spending some time trying to think of the solutions before Moriarty comes up and shows him two of the five solutions (as if they were the only ones). Moriarty too writes these down incorrectly, but in a different way to the incorrectness already on the board.

As Moriarty writes down the complex solution (complex means the answer contains both real and imaginary numbers) he says “These solutions, they’re not real. They’re imaginary.” which we can allow (although technically he means complex).

What we can’t forgive is Moriarty going on to say, “That means even if you can’t see the target, you can still shoot for it.” Which is nonsense, even as a metaphor. Complex numbers aren’t targets you can’t see, but well-defined, mainstream (even in the 1870s) mathematical quantities and there’s no sense in which you “aim at” a complex solution to an equation.

Death by numbers

In the last episode, Holmes and his team are battling to halt the distribution of a deadly chemical weapon known as the “creeping death”. They find a scrap of paper in a secret room which they say is the “equation for creating the creeping death.”

I was expecting to see some complex chemical reaction formulae sketched on the page, but when it’s held up to the camera, we see instead a mathematical equation: z³ + 4 z² – 10 z + 12 = 0.

What does this have to do with the chemical process for creating the deadly nerve agent?

Nothing, it turns out. Or at least nothing I can imagine. In fact it’s a device to allow Holmes and Moriarty to hark back to that moment in the lecture theatre when they first met. What follows goes beyond artistic license into the realm of gibberish.

“If we have the positive equation”, they say, “then we can come up with the negative. And thus create a compound to neutralise the threat of creeping death.” Perhaps they meant “positive solution”, because equations themselves aren’t positive or negative. Either way, the idea that this simple mathematical equation or its solutions are the secret formula for making a weapon of mass destruction doesn’t make sense. There’s no context, no sense in which this equation could be the secret recipe for creating the nerve agent.

Moriarty points out that they have a problem. “This equation is not finished.” By this I think he means that the three solutions to the equation are not written out explicitly.

One solution, z = – 6 is given. And it’s correct. The rest of the scrap of paper contains a reformulation of the equation (a factorisation), which shows that the remaining solutions can be found by solving a quadratic equation: z² – 2 z + 2 = 0.

A quadratic equation is just an equation built around a squared term (in this case z^2), which has two solutions. The formula for the solutions may be familiar to GCSE students (normally aged 15 to 17 years old). For a general quadratic equation: a z² + b z + c = 0, the two solutions are given below.

Yet, we are supposed to believe that, despite having supposedly solved a far more complicated equation than this in the first episode, Moriarty can’t find the solution to this much simpler equation. So stumped is Moriarty – the future maths professor – that he spends precious time, as a bomb is about to detonate, searching for a piece of paper with this missing solution. He almost loses his life when he could have just used a GCSE-level formula.

The piece of paper he eventually finds contains an incorrect statement of the quadratic formula alongside some nonsensical text, although the solutions are at least correct: z = 1 + i and z = 1 – i (where i, remember, is the imaginary number).

I appreciate my dissection of the maths is high-grade nerdery. Most people will have watched the series without pausing it like I did to look at the maths and probably won’t have noticed. But, if maths is going to be a pivotal plot point in your blockbuster series, then you’ll probably want to make sure you get it right.