When one Lancashire schoolgirl was asked what she would do without her social accounts, her deadpan response went viral.
‘Stare at a wall,’ she said, her face solemn.
Many argued this reaction was exactly why the ban was needed, because of the addicting nature of social media algorithms.
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Of course, this ban won’t be implemented until spring 2027, so as a parent, how do you tell if your child is truly addicted to their phone, or they’re simply annoyed they’ve been banned from a global network?
Nick Dunkley, 47, an operations manager for UK Addiction Treatment (UKAT), the biggest private addiction treatment provider in the country has been seeing an increasing number of under-18 year olds accessing treatment to combat their reliance on social media.
How to spot if your teen has a social media addiction
Your child’s love for their phone and social media accounts becomes an addiction when they experience an overwhelming urge to take part in it again and again, even when it’s causing them harm, according to UKAT.
This urge isn’t a simple craving, like the urge to eat chocolate, an addiction can leave those struggling unable to function without the behaviour.
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Your child’s reaction to losing their social media privileges may come with tell tale signs (Picture: Getty Images/Maskot)
It’s little wonder this has happened when Nick says ‘these short, sharp videos are made of instant dopamine, [they’re] flicking through and not absorbing anything’.
So, how can you check if this applies to your child? ‘To see the acute symptoms, just try to take a phone off a 15-year-old,’ Nick explains.
Once you’ve done this, keep an eye out for these signs. ‘It’s the lack of eye contact, struggling to engage in face to face conversations, physical agitation and their eyes darting to where their phones are,’ he adds.
‘These might be written off as teenager behaviour, but it becomes pronounced.’
Even when your teen or child does have their phone or tablet, there are other behaviours to look out for. Nick explains you’ll notice a lack of sleep from doom-scrolling, your child might have persistent headaches and maybe even worsening eyesight.
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It could also result in a ‘decreased attention span and IQ’, according to the expert.
Children can become so desperate that when they attend UKAT’s rehab for social media addictions, they sneak in second phones or refuse to surrender their devices.
Many will also do anything they can to avoid attending in the first place.
The one thing parents shouldn’t do when the ban comes in
Once all under 16s are banned by spring 2027 and under 18s have had their curfews implemented, parents should expect there to be some teething problems.
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He says withdrawals are to be expected. If you’re child is struggling with the ban you’ll see mood changes, and they may be more agitated and argumentative, but parents and schools should support young people through this.
‘I’m hopeful,’ Nick says. ‘Give it six months or a year, and it won’t be this massive impact on the youth – they’ll bounce back.
‘We’re not depriving them now – we already did, now we’re trying to give them their childhood back.’
Certain apps will be banned for those under 16 (Picture: Getty Images)
He suggests the biggest threat to the ban’s success will be parents bending the rules to allow their children access when they shouldn’t have it.
But, ultimately, parents should use this ban to empower themselves.
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‘We know the harm social media does for children – now this ban enables parents and schools to say no without the peer pressure,’ Nick explains.
‘I know what I’d rather my child be doing rather than living in a world that doesn’t exist, and aspiring to things they can never reach.’
Confidential help, information and support with social media addiction is available on UKAT’s website.
The London Fire Brigade confirmed it received 19 calls reporting the blaze, prompting more than a dozen fire engines to be dispatched to the scene where crews found three people trapped
Rachel Vickers-Price UK and World News Reporter
23:32, 20 Jun 2026
Three people have died following a blaze that erupted in west London on Saturday night (June 20), the London Fire Brigade has confirmed.
Approximately 100 firefighters and 15 fire engines rushed to tackle the inferno on New Zealand Way, which started at around 6.52pm, after the fire brigade received 19 calls about the incident.
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Speaking at the scene on New Zealand Way in White City, London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Pat Goulbourne said: “The fire involved a single-storey pavilion, with just over half of the structure damaged by the fire.
“Three men were rescued from the building by firefighters and treated on scene by paramedics from the London Ambulance Service. Sadly, two of the men were declared dead at the scene. The third man was taken to hospital for further treatment, but was later declared dead.”
He said the brigade received the first of 19 calls reporting the fire at 6.52pm, and crews from North Kensington, Acton, Chiswick and surrounding fire stations were dispatched to the scene, with firefighters managing to bring the blaze under control by 9.25pm, reports the Express.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Brigade’s specialist fire investigation officers and the Metropolitan Police Service, Mr Goulbourne said.
A police appeal has been launched to help officers
22:14, 20 Jun 2026Updated 22:15, 20 Jun 2026
A teenager has died after being stabbed in Poole, prompting a murder investigation and the arrests of four young men.
Emergency services were called to Longfleet Road at 2.13am on Friday, June 19, where an 18‑year‑old was found with a suspected stab wound and taken to hospital. He was pronounced dead shortly afterwards, according to the Mirror.
Detectives believe the victim, who was from Poole, was injured during an incident in nearby Dale Close before being driven to Longfleet Road. Four men, aged between 19 and 22, have been arrested on suspicion of murder as inquiries continue.
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A 19-year-old man from Poole came forward overnight and was arrested on suspicion of murder on Saturday (June 20). Two 22-year-olds, one from London and one from Bletchley in Buckinghamshire, who were initially arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, have since been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Also, a 20-year-old man from Blandford in Dorset has been arrested on suspicion of murder. All four remain in custody, police confirmed.
Two men aged 36 and 38, from Bournemouth, have been released with no further action taken after they were initially arrested on suspicion of murder.
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“We are continuing our investigation into this incident and are keeping the victim’s family updated on our progress. Our thoughts are with them at this incredibly difficult time,” said Detective Superintendent Neil Third, of Dorset Police.
“Officers have concluded searches in the Dale Close area and continue to carry out searches at an address in Castleman Smith Close in Blandford in connection to the incident. We do not underestimate the concern and upset that an incident of this nature will have in the community.
“We still need help from the public and would reiterate our appeal for anyone with information – or relevant home CCTV, doorbell camera or dashcam footage – from Dale Close or Longfleet Road around the relevant time to please contact us.”
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An appeal was launched for information regarding a dark-coloured Nissan Juke seen in the area of Dale Close at the time of the incident. Still, later on Saturday night they said they had identified the vehicle’s location.
Anyone with information has been asked to contact Dorset police online or by calling 101 quoting reference number number 55260090826. Alternatively, information can be provided anonymously through independent charity Crimestoppers online or by calling 0800 555 111.
The show will run at Newcastle Theatre Royal in June next year before heading to Sunderland Empire later in the 2027 tour, giving fans on both sides of the Tyne and Wear the chance to see Broadway and the West End’s hottest musical close to home.
Hadestown North East dates and venues
The big news for local theatregoers is that Hadestown will play a week‑long engagement at Newcastle Theatre Royal from June 1–5, 2027, with evening performances and mid‑week matinees expected.
Sunderland Empire welcomes Hadestown in November, bringing the underworld to Wearside from November 9-13 of 2027.
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What is Hadestown about?
Hadestown reimagines the ancient myths of Orpheus and Eurydice, and Hades and Persephone, as a gritty, Depression‑era fable about love, power and the cost of hope.
Set to a score that blends New Orleans jazz, folk, blues and contemporary musical theatre, it follows young songwriter Orpheus as he journeys to the underworld to rescue Eurydice from the factory‑like Hadestown run by Hades.
The show began life as a concept album by singer‑songwriter Anaïs Mitchell before evolving into a fully staged musical that opened on Broadway in 2019, winning eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, before transferring to the West End.
(Image: Storyhouse.)
For North East audiences, used to big touring titles, Hadestown offers something a little different: it’s sung‑through, narratively rich and politically sharp, with a distinct sound and a staging that breaks the fourth wall.
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Fans of Hamilton, Les Misérables or Come From Away are likely to find plenty to love in its mix of storytelling, ensemble work and inventive choreography.
How to book in the North East
Booking for Hadestown’s North East dates is being phased, with membership schemes and mailing‑list subscribers often getting first access before general sale.
The safest route is to check the Newcastle Theatre Royal website regularly and to register for updates, as well as keeping an eye on the official Hadestown tour page where new details are added as they’re confirmed.
Sunderland Empire tickets can be booked here: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/hadestown/sunderland-empire/.
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With the show’s award‑winning track record in London and on Broadway – and this being its first UK and Ireland tour – demand for North East performances is likely to be intense.
A crisis of trust in the water companies appears to be driving the public to take water quality testing into their own hands. Thousands of people take part in the twice yearly water testing events, organised by charity Earthwatch. Spring 2025 saw the highest number of participants at more than 7,000. Other organisations also report rising numbers of people getting involved in water testing.
These people, often referred to as citizen scientists, are doing tasks as varied as surveying aquatic insects to sampling water for chemicals.
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Much public attention has centred on sewage pollution in UK rivers in the past few years. Waste is regularly and legally discharged into lakes, rivers and along beaches by water companies during periods of heavy rainfall. But incidents of sewage discharges on days with no to low rainfall have also been identified, and in some cases legal action has followed. In some cases water companies have been fined millions of pounds.
The Environment Agency (EA), the main environmental regulator for the water industry, reported nearly 300,000 sewage spills across England in 2025 alone.
The consequences have affected both wildlife and people. Campaign group Surfers Against Sewage documented more than 7,000 cases of illness linked to swimming at official bathing sites over just five years. In 2025, 12 of England’s 14 inland bathing sites were rated “poor”, meaning swimmers were recommended to avoid the water because of potentially harmful bacteria. In April, the UK’s largest pollution claim began to be heard in the High Court, over allegations of chicken waste pouring into rivers along the Welsh-English border.
Public campaigning is believed to have helped trigger recent government action, with reforms expected in a planned Water Reform Bill.
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Citizen sceptics
Some water companies now fund freshwater citizen science initiatives. These run across locations including the Thames Valley, south-east England and Wales. The programmes claim to enhance community awareness, empowerment and improve transparency of water companies’ management efforts.
During my PhD, I researched how one group of volunteers in Oxfordshire collected and interpreted river data. Some told me that they felt that water companies encouraged participation in citizen science, while ignoring the data.
As one citizen scientist explained in my own ongoing preliminary research, “people keep beavering away, and eager beavers are just what the water industry wants”. In his view, citizen science risks becoming a tool for keeping volunteers busy and distracted, rather than driving accountability.
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However, recent research shows water companies have historically underreported the number of sewage spills. The Consumer Council for Water, which represents customers, has reported widespread dissatisfaction with water companies. An independent water commission has also highlighted a deterioration of public confidence in the environmental regulators.
A recent Channel 4 docudrama, Dirty Business, echoes these frustrations. It follows two citizens trying to hold water companies and regulators to account.
In line with some recent academic research, the programme explores suggestions that the water industry attempts to deflect blame and distract attention from sewage pollution. In a statement addressing the allegations, the EA said: “Prosecutions are just one tool against water pollution, and we have also levied a record £8.5 million in enforcement undertakings against water companies in the last year alone.”
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ITV coverage of sewage spills.
Public confidence
The Environment Agency also faces questions about public confidence. Research suggests that volunteers believe current regulations allow water companies to act without sufficient oversight. In this study, people felt that the EA was not fulfilling its responsibility to hold the water industry to account.
In 2024, the head of the EA, Philip Duffy, said that the organisation had buried freedom of information requests, with staff worried about revealing the embarrassing truth of water pollution. In a statement reported in the Guardian at the time, the EA said: “Philip is completely committed to the highest standards of transparency.” It added that he wanted to make more EA data readily available.
In January 2026, the Office for Environmental Protection, a public watchdog on environmental protection, also found possible failures by the EA to comply with water quality laws.
These concerns are not unreasonable. Citizen science data can indeed vary in quality, depending on training and sampling practices. Ensuring consistency across the sheer number of volunteer groups is also a challenge.
In the meantime, groups such as environmental charity Earthwatch and Surfers Against Sewage design and publish their own online maps and dashboards. These make thousands of historic data points publicly available.
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As summer arrives and 13 new bathing sites open, pressure is again mounting on water companies and regulators to clean up England’s rivers and beaches. The citizen water sample collectors will be on standby.
A “deeply caring” young man has died following a crash. Callum Hanson, 22, died in hospital on Wednesday, June 17 following the collision on the A4075 near Cross Hands, Pembrokeshire.
Callum’s family have paid tribute to him through a statement released through Dyfed-Powys Police. They described Callum, from Haverfordwest, as a kind and loving person.
The statement reads: “Callum’s family wish to remember him as the kind, loving person he was, who lived his life to the fullest, despite his own personal challenges.
“He was a deeply caring person and spent the last month looking after his grandad, who sadly, also recently passed away. Callum has a passion for gaming and motorbikes and was training to be a mechanic in college.
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“Callum will be remembered by his mum Joanne, dad Carl, sister Kacey, nan Heather, girlfriend Emily, and his wider family and friends. The family now ask for privacy during this difficult time.”
Officers from Dyfed-Powys Police continue to appeal for anyone who was travelling on the A4075 between Canaston Bridge and Yerbeston around 6.15pm on Wednesday, June 17 to get in touch.
It also has a name that catches almost every visitor out on their first visit.
How to pronounce it
The correct pronunciation is Boomer.
Not Bowl-mer. Not Bool-mer.
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Boomer, like the word some young people would use to describe someone born after the Second World War.
Why does it sound like that?
The answer lies in the village’s age.
The name Boulmer is recorded in earlier documents as Bulemer, and derives from the Old English bulan-mere, meaning “bull’s mere” – a mere, or pool, frequented by bulls.
Over centuries of use in the Northumberland dialect, the spelling calcified while the spoken form kept moving, until the gap between the two became impossible to guess from the page alone.
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There is a second theory.
The RNLI’s own archive, recording the lifeboating families of Boulmer, notes that the origin of the name “is given as Bull’s Mere or Bow Mere, the second being more probably right, from the shape of the water in the haven, enclosed by reefs of rock in the shape of a bow.”
The haven itself was known locally as the Mer-Mouth, pronounced “Marmoothe.”
A third possibility comes from even earlier.
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The North Cottage Boulmer website notes that the village’s name may have its first roots in ancient Gaelic, in the words Búir na mara, meaning “roar of the sea.”
Whether the Gaelic, the Old English or the bow-shaped haven is the true origin is a question scholars have not fully settled, but the pronunciation has been fixed for as long as anyone can remember: it is Boomer.
The village itself
Boulmer sits on the Northumberland Coast National Landscape three miles north of Alnmouth, accessed along a narrow road through the dunes.
It is one of the last genuinely working fishing villages on the Northumberland coast, and the pub, The Fishing Boat Inn, sits steps from the shore. RAF Boulmer — also officially pronounced “RAF Boomer” — occupies the land behind the village and is home to the Air Command and Control Force.
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One English-learning visitor who walked the coastal path from Alnmouth wrote drily online in response to place names with strange pronounciations, saying: “Boulmer, pronounced Boomer for some reason.
“How people ever learn English I’ll never know. It’s hard enough coping with the various accents without pronouncing things differently to how they look.”
England’s batting sparkled again as the hosts closed on a place in the T20 World Cup semi-finals with an 38-run victory over Scotland at Headingley.
Sophia Dunkley ensured injured captain Nat Sciver-Brunt was not missed by capitalising on three dropped catches in making 57 on her return to the side.
Alice Capsey stroked 40 and Heather Knight 25 but most impressive was a barnstorming unbroken partnership of 61 from just 21 balls from Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson.
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Together they took England from 141-5 after 17 overs to 200-5 after 20 – with Kemp hitting an unbeaten 39 from 16 balls and Gibson an 11-ball 30 not out.
After an edgy chase over Ireland in their second match, this was more reminiscent of England’s performance on the opening night of the tournament when they piled up 219-1 against Sri Lanka.
The Kemp-Gibson pyrotechnics pushed the target beyond Scotland and, despite an admirable effort, they finished on 162-7 – their highest score batting second in T20 internationals.
A win in either of England’s last two matches, against West Indies on Wednesday or New Zealand next Saturday, will likely be enough to secure a top-two finish.
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Scotland, who have a win and two defeats, play New Zealand on Tuesday.
The family said they are ‘totally heartbroken’ by the sudden and unexpected loss
Daniel Orme Trends Writer and Kirstie McCrum Deputy Head of News, Live News Network
22:47, 20 Jun 2026Updated 22:51, 20 Jun 2026
Mark Hughes has been left ‘totally heartbroken’ following the death of his son, Alex, at the age of 38.
A statement issued by the League Managers Association on behalf of the former Blackburn, Manchester City and Stoke boss Hughes reads: “Jill and I are totally heartbroken by the sudden and unexpected loss of our beloved son Alex.
“Alex was a wonderful son, brother to Curtis and Xenna, devoted husband and father to Jessica and their two beautiful children Sebastian and Leonardo.
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“Alex was Player Recruitment Lead at Grimsby Town FC, and had many good friends and colleagues. He will be so deeply missed by us all. We ask for privacy during this sad time as we come to terms with our family’s loss.”
Alex Hughes had been employed most recently within Grimsby Town’s player recruitment team at the time of his passing, reports the Mirror.
He was born in 1987 while his father Mark was contracted to Barcelona. He enjoyed a short-lived football career in Wales before transitioning into football administration.
He began as a match analyst at Blackburn before progressing to Manchester City as a scout.
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He subsequently held positions with Fulham, 1860 Munich and Reading. Hughes later assumed the role of director of football at AFC Fylde before moving to Morecambe and Grimsby.
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Some weeds, called “indicator weeds”, can reveal “clues” relating to soil health, existing nutrients, growing site conditions, and the potential health of the turf, UC said.
White clover
Black medick
Plantain (especially broadleaf and ribwort plantain)
Prostrate knotweed
Red sorrel (sheep’s sorrel)
Yellow woodsorrel
Crabgrass
Silver cinquefoil.
UC also listed American goosegrass, or Eleusine indica (which is different to UK cleavers, also sometimes called goosegrass here) and spotted spurge in the list – however they’re less common in the UK.
What should I do if I have drought-prone soil?
Drought-prone soils tend to be sandy. They usually feel gritty to the touch.
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Help them to retain water by mulching them, adding potassium as needed, and avoiding heavy traffic on these soils (like walking or driving on them, especially during periods of drought).
Organic matter is especially helpful for improving the quality of sandy soils. Manure and composted bark, wood chips, leaves, and straw can be very useful.
Once clover has sprouted and the flowers are blooming, you’ll easily spot this perennial.
The best way to remove clover and not rely on any chemicals is to pull it out by hand.
Cory Tanner, Horticulture Program Team Director for Clemson University Cooperative Extension, says: “Hand digging and hand pulling of clover is the main way to remove it without herbicides”.
If you have a large area full of clover, you can dig it out and put down new turf. “Larger patches can be dug out and the area resodded or reseeded,” he says. If clover is something you don’t want in any part of your lawn or landscape, it’s best to consider managing the plant rather than focusing on eliminating it entirely.
Bellringers from across the country have gathered at the Minster for the National 12-Bell Striking Contest Final on Saturday (June 20).
It is the first time the competition has been held in York since 1999, when the home band won its own bells.
As The Press reported, the Minster’s bells will ring for six hours straight, finishing at 5.30pm when the winner of the Taylor Trophy is announced.
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Finalists this year include bands from London, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Guildford, Leeds and York.
Read next:
The National 12-Bell Striking Contest has been held annually since 1975 and is regarded as the premier competition in the art of change ringing.
A Minster spokesperson said people are encouraged to visit the cathedral during the competition.
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“Whether you are a dedicated contest follower, an occasional listener, or simply curious to experience the sound of world-class ringing in a great cathedral, you will be warmly welcomed,” they said.
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