It can be tricky for first time buyers

First-time buyers are dealing with significant affordability gaps across Britain, with properties in some regions costing approximately double the local salary, and up to 14 times average incomes in other areas, according to an analysis.

Cambridge, alongside Oxford, York and Cardiff, has been identified as one of Britain’s most unaffordable places for first time buyers to climb the property ladder.

Whereas, Inverclyde in Scotland has been pinpointed by Nationwide as the most affordable location for individuals stepping onto the property ladder, with the average first-time buyer home costing 2.3 times local earnings.

Burnley and Hartlepool were also highlighted by Nationwide Building Society as among the most affordable places to get on the property ladder, with typical property prices in these areas costing just under three times the average local wage.

Andrew Harvey, Nationwide’s senior economist, said: “Inverclyde in Scotland is the most affordable local authority in Great Britain, with average first-time buyer house prices just 2.3 times average earnings in the area. Inverclyde includes Greenock and Port Glasgow and is also the cheapest area in Scotland, with average prices around £100,000. Burnley and Hartlepool remain the most affordable areas in the North West and North regions respectively.”

The London borough of Kensington and Chelsea was identified as the least affordable location in London and Britain, with a home typically costing 13.9 times local earnings. Mr Harvey added: “A 10% deposit on a first-time buyer property is £15,000 or less in (around) 10% of local authorities, whilst in nearly half of areas the average deposit is between £15,000 and £25,000.”

He said that approximately 70% of local authorities have experienced improved affordability over the past year. Nationwide utilised average first-time buyer property prices and local earnings data for average adult full-time workers to compile the calculations.

Adding to the difficulties facing prospective first-time buyers and homeowners, mortgage rates have been climbing in recent weeks amid shifting market expectations following the conflict in the Middle East.

Hundreds of mortgage products have also been pulled from the market as lenders have rushed to make adjustments. According to financial information website Moneyfacts, the average two-year fixed-rate homeowner mortgage available has increased from 4.83% at the beginning of March to 5.35%.

The average five-year fixed homeowner mortgage rate has climbed from 4.95% at the start of March to 5.39%.

Adam French, head of consumer finance at Moneyfacts, said: “Swap rates, which underpin mortgage pricing, have risen sharply following the decision (by the Bank of England on Thursday) to hold the base rate at 3.75%, with markets interpreting commentary from the Bank of England as leaving the door open to rate rises amid ‘Trumpflation’ fears.

“With two and five-year swaps now sitting at their highest level in more than a year, lenders are once again facing higher funding costs, and this will feed through into mortgage pricing.” He added: “Whilst a quicker resolution to the conflict in the Middle East could ease pressure on rates, the reality is that a more volatile world is a more expensive world. Even though the most competitive deals will remain below average, anyone looking to buy or remortgage this year needs to prepare for higher costs than previously expected.”

Mary-Lou Press, president of NAEA (National Association of Estate Agents) Propertymark, said Nationwide’s data “highlights a mixed picture for first-time buyers across the country”.

She added: “It is positive to see affordability improving in many areas, with around 70% of local authorities recording progress over the past year, which should help support market activity.

“However, significant regional disparities remain. Whilst some parts of the country are becoming more accessible to buyers, high house prices in areas such as London and the south east continue to create substantial barriers, particularly when it comes to saving for a deposit.”

James Nightingall, from property search service HomeFinder AI, said: “Prime central London boroughs including Kensington and Chelsea are particularly sought-after.

“Many first-time buyers are priced out and are looking in zones three to six for more affordable homes whilst others decide to continue to rent and save up a larger deposit.”

Below are the most affordable locations for first-time buyers across nations or regions, according to Nationwide, showing the average house price-to-earnings ratio:

• Scotland, Inverclyde, 2.3
• North West, Burnley, 2.8
• North, Hartlepool, 2.9
• Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull, 3.0
• Wales, Merthyr Tydfil, 3.3
• West Midlands, Stoke-on-Trent, 3.4
• East Midlands, West Lindsey, 3.7
• East Anglia, Great Yarmouth, 4.3
• Outer South East, Gosport, 4.7
• Outer Metropolitan, Surrey Heath, 4.8
• South West, Swindon, 4.8
• London, Bromley, 6.2

Below are the least affordable locations for first-time buyers across nations or regions, according to Nationwide, showing the average house price-to-earnings ratio:

• London, Kensington and Chelsea, 13.9
• Outer South East, Oxford, 8.0
• East Anglia, Cambridge, 7.3
• Outer Metropolitan, Spelthorne, 7.0
• South West, South Hams, 6.9
• East Midlands, Derbyshire Dales, 5.7
• West Midlands, Stratford-on-Avon, 5.6
• North West, Trafford, 5.5
• Yorkshire, York, 5.4
• Wales, Cardiff, 5.3
• Scotland, Midlothian, 4.9
• North, Westmorland and Furness, 4.1

Ibrahima Konate gifted Albion a throw-in deep in Liverpool territory by miscontrolling a pass from Mamardashvili and, following Ferdi Kadioglu’s deep cross from the left, Diego Gomez nodded back across goal for former Manchester United forward Welbeck to head home and then taunt the travelling fans.

Josh Kerr completed his post-injury return to the top of a global podium in thrilling fashion as he reclaimed his 3,000m title to win Great Britain’s first medal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland.

Kerr, who won gold in the event on home soil in Glasgow two years ago, had his world 1500m title defence ruined by injury in Tokyo in September.

But, six months after sustaining a calf tear during that final, Kerr demonstrated his return to full fitness by overpowering world-class opposition as the complete line-up of Olympic 1500m medallists went head to head.

The 28-year-old, now a three-time world champion, made his move on the final lap and would not be denied as he distanced his rivals before crossing the line in seven minutes 35.56 seconds.

American Cole Hocker, who denied Kerr Olympic gold in 2024 and won the world 5,000m title last year, out-kicked the Briton in their only previous meeting this season over two miles at the Millrose Games.

But Hocker had no response to Kerr’s dash for gold and had to settle for silver, with Frenchman Yann Schrub taking bronze.

The Department for Work and Pensions offers an “over-80 pension” top-up designed to guarantee a minimum income – yet it remains one of the most overlooked payments in the system.

If you are aged 80 or over and receive a low basic State Pension – or none at all – you could qualify for extra weekly payments.

This is worth up to £105.70 a week, or £5,759 a year.

Despite the size of the boost, awareness is low – meaning thousands of pensioners may be missing out.

Who can claim the DWP Over 80s Pension?

According to official guidance, you can claim if all of the following apply:

• You’re 80 or over
• You do not get basic State Pension or your basic State Pension is less than £105.70 a week
• You were resident in the UK for at least 10 years out of 20

You must also have been ordinarily resident in the UK, the Isle of Man or Gibraltar on your 80th birthday or when you claim, says the DWP.

Crucially, this payment is not based on your National Insurance record: “Your eligibility for the over 80 pension is not based on National Insurance contributions.”

Recommended reading:

The payment many don’t know exists – and it’s going up

Many assume they are already receiving everything they are entitled to, or think it is means tested so they are not eligible.

It also increases each year, like other DWP pensions, which many may not realise.

Former pensions minister Steve Webb said support like this is essential: “These annual upratings are vital to protect pensioner living standards.”

If you or a relative is over 80 and on a low income, it may be worth checking entitlement.

With rising living costs, even a modest weekly increase could make a significant difference.

Kidderminster Harriers’ match against Radcliffe was abandoned after goalkeeper Christian Dibble and defender Joe Foulkes suffered head injuries and were taken to hospital

Kidderminster Harriers’ clash with Radcliffe in the National League North was called off on Saturday afternoon after two serious injuries were suffered.

Goalkeeper Christian Dibble and right-back Joe Foulkes, both playing for Kiddy, were transported from Stainton Park in an ambulance after the English sixth-tier fixture was brought to a sudden halt late in the second half. The duo suffered head injuries and were rushed to hospital for further medical attention.

Dibble, who previously spent six years at Wrexham and featured in their Disney+ documentary Welcome To Wrexham, lay on the turf for a considerable period and received care from both clubs’ medical staff. A collision left the keeper down and forced a stoppage in play. Radcliffe posted on X: “This afternoon’s game has been abandoned due to an injury to Kidderminster goalkeeper, Christian Dibble. We wish him a very speedy recovery.”

They continued in a subsequent post: “Some things are bigger than the game we all love. Kidderminster’s Christian Dibble and Joe Foulkes have both been taken away in an ambulance. We’d like to thank the emergency services for their quick response, and wish both players a healthy recovery.”

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In their own social media updates, Harriers posted: “There’s a stoppage in play as Christian Dibble has come for a free kick and taken a fairly heavy landing. He’s getting some treatment.

“We’re up to 81 minutes of match time but no idea as yet as to whether the game will continue and, if it does, we’ll have a huge chunk to add on. Only real concern right now is big Dibbs who is still down getting treatment from the medical teams after taking a heavy landing.”

Confirming the abandonment, they added: “Saturday’s game at Radcliffe has been abandoned due to an injury to Christian Dibble. There is no further information at this stage – all thoughts and love with the big man for a quick recovery.”

They later confirmed that Dibble and Foulkes were transported to hospital, both suffering head injuries. Harriers said: “Both players were conscious. We’d like to thank the medical teams of both Harriers and Radcliffe for their impeccable work in treating both boys.”

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Kiddy and Radcliffe were locked at 1-1 before the match was called off prematurely. Owen Evans had levelled for the visitors before the interval after striker Rio Clegg netted his 22nd goal of the campaign to put The Boro in front.

With the fixture unfinished, Kiddy remain third in the National League North standings, 18 points behind second-placed South Shields. They have contested two matches fewer than their play-off competitors and three fewer than Merthyr Town beneath them in third, also on 66 points. Radcliffe sit 11th on 56 points, six points adrift of the playoff places.

Only the title winners – with AFC Fylde currently leading the way – automatically secure promotion to the National League. The second promoted side is decided through the playoffs, with six teams qualifying to contest quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final.

The final is staged at the home ground of whichever finalist finished higher in the league table during the regular campaign.

Kiddy were last in the National League in 2023-24, whilst they finished third in the lower tier last season but were knocked out in the playoff semi-finals. Radcliffe won the Northern Premier League Premier Division title in 2024 and have never competed as high as the National League.

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This is a perfect day trip out for history buffs

For any history buff, there is a day out within easy reach of Cambridge that is a “lunar landscape” waiting to be discovered. Cambridgeshire is a setting that was a prime location for the Anglo Saxons, but this was also the case in nearby Norfolk.

Just a 51-minute drive from Cambridge is Thetford, and in Thetford is Grime’s Graves. Described as a “lunar landscape”, this is more than 430 shafts and quarries that were first named Grim’s Graves by the Anglo Saxons. This means ‘pits of the pagan god grim’.

In 1870, an excavation took place and something was discovered. Flint mines that were dug around 2650 BC were discovered, and this is the only Neolithic Flint mine in Britain. Today, people can visit the site and descend 9m down to experience the mines.

As people descend down, there are light projections that show the lives of the people that worked and lived there. If people want to know more information, they can listen to an audio guided tour along the way, which is read out by Time-Team archaeologist Phil Harding and English Heritage historian Dr Jennifer Wexler.

After you’ve come back to the top, there is more history to discover. There is an exhibition space that tells the tales of the first pits opening in 2650 BC.

People can also learn about the origins of the name of the pits, as well as the excavations that happened in the 1800s. There is also a family trail people can embark on.

For people wanting to descend to the pits, they must be aged seven or over, and it’s advised to wear flat footwear. To find out more, go to the website.

The former head of the FBI who investigated ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, has died aged 81.

Robert Mueller, who ran the US crime investigation body from 2001 to 2013, died on Friday evening, a spokesperson for his family said.

His cause of death has not been released publicly.

In a statement, a spokesperson for his family said: ‘With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away. His family asks that their privacy be respected.’

At the FBI, Mr Mueller set about almost immediately overhauling the bureau’s mission to meet the law enforcement needs of the 21st century, beginning his 12-year tenure just a week before the September 11 attacks in 2001 and serving presidents of both political parties. He was nominated by Republican George W Bush.

The cataclysmic event instantly switched the bureau’s top priority from solving domestic crime to preventing terrorism, a shift that imposed an almost impossible standard on Mr Mueller and the rest of the federal government: preventing 99 out of 100 terrorist plots was not good enough.

Later, he was special counsel in the Justice Department’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign illegally co-ordinated with Russia to sway the outcome of the 2016 presidential race.

Mr Trump posted on social media: ‘Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!’

The second-longest-serving director in FBI history, behind only J Edgar Hoover, Mr Mueller held the job until 2013 after agreeing to Democratic president Barack Obama’s request to stay on after his 10-year term was up.

After several years in private practice, Mr Mueller was asked by deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein to return to public service as special counsel in the Trump-Russia inquiry.

His team spent nearly two years quietly conducting one of the most consequential, yet divisive, investigations in Justice Department history.

He held no news conferences and made no public appearances during the investigation, remaining quiet despite attacks from Mr Trump and his supporters and creating an aura of mystery around his work.

Mr Mueller later brought criminal charges against six of the president’s associates, including his campaign chairman and first national security adviser.

His 448-page report released in April 2019 identified substantial contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia but did not allege a criminal conspiracy.

He laid out damaging details about Trump’s efforts to seize control of the investigation, and even shut it down, though he declined to decide whether Mr Trump had broken the law, in part because of department policy barring the indictment of a sitting president.

Mr Mueller noted: ‘If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment.’

The conclusion did not deliver the knockout punch to the administration that some Trump opponents had hoped for, nor did it trigger a sustained push by Democrats to impeach the president – though he was later tried and acquitted on separate allegations related to Ukraine.

The outcome also left room for attorney general William Barr to insert his own views. He and his team made their own determination that Mr Trump did not obstruct justice, and he and Mr Mueller privately tangled over a four-page summary letter from Mr Barr that Mr Mueller felt did not adequately capture his report’s damaging conclusion.

During his time at the FBI, it was defined by the 9/11 attacks and its aftermath, as an FBI granted broad new surveillance and national security powers scrambled to confront an ascendant al-Qaida and interrupt plots and take terrorists off the street before they could act.

It was a new model of policing for an FBI that had long been accustomed to investigating crimes that had already occurred.

Mr Mueller was born in New York City and grew up in a well-to-do suburb of Philadelphia.

He received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s in international relations from New York University.

He then joined the marines, serving for three years as an officer during the Vietnam War.

He led a rifle platoon and was awarded a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and two Navy Commendation Medals. After his military service, he earned a law degree from the University of Virginia.

Mr Mueller became a federal prosecutor and rose quickly through the ranks in US attorneys’ offices in San Francisco and Boston from 1976 to 1988. Later, as head of the Justice Department’s criminal division in Washington, he oversaw a range of high-profile prosecutions that chalked up victories against targets as varied as Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and New York crime boss John Gotti.

In a mid-career switch that shocked colleagues, Mr Mueller quit a job at a prestigious Boston law firm to join the homicide division of the US attorney’s office in the nation’s capital, where he immersed himself as a senior litigator on unsolved drug-related murders in a city rife with violence.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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Sarah James, executive producer at Strictly, said in a statement: “As the longest-serving female professional dancer in the history of the show, Karen has given so much of herself and her time to the programme, and we are extremely grateful for the passion, creativity and dedication she has brought to every single performance.

When Liverpool came to Brighton last May, the away end was in party mode at the full-time whistle despite the defeat as they sang and celebrated with inflatables and balloons.

By then, Arne Slot’s side had won the Premier League title and a trip to the south coast was another excuse to enjoy themselves. And rightly so.

Ten months on, Liverpool tasted defeat against Fabian Hurzeler’s side again but this time the away end was half empty by the time Slot made his way over to the travelling supporters.

Their latest defeat is the 10th in the league this season, making it only the seventh time the reigning Premier League champions have lost 10 or more games during their title defence.

Since starting the campaign with five wins on the trot, Slot’s side have won just nine of their next 26 games in the league. With that kind of form, Liverpool do not look like a team that has it in them to qualify for the Champions League.

It is all but certain that the Premier League will get an extra place in the Champions League and Liverpool currently occupy that fifth spot, though they have a game in hand on sixth-placed Chelsea who play later on Saturday.

Much had been made in the build-up about the 62 hours Liverpool had to prepare between their Champions League win over Galatasaray at Anfield and this trip to Brighton.

With Alisson and Mohamed Salah forced out with injuries, Liverpool‘s situation worsened when striker Hugo Ekitike was forced off early on.

“What went wrong started off with the lead up to this game,” Slot said.

“As so many times has happened this season, when we played a very good game [against Galatasaray] and we thought we could bring that level to the next game, or even better, we had Mo Salah injured, we had Alisson injured and, after two minutes, Hugo Ekitike out.

“That has happened to us so many times this season and what happened to us a lot this season is that the first chance of the other team immediately went in.

“But in the second half Brighton were the better team and deserved to win.”

Slot was the first to say that his side deserved to lose here and it would hardly have surprised him. Of their 10 Premier League games this season following a Champions League fixture, Liverpool have lost five of them.

Questions have to be asked about fitness and, despite spending £450m in the summer, Liverpool lack proper squad depth.

“It makes complete sense if you win the league last season and you spent £450m that the expectations are high, and those expectations were high for the pundits, for the media, for me, for the fans,” said Slot.

“At our club we’re also looking at the situation and the challenge we had during this season, and then we might be a bit more realistic [about] why the season has gone why it is gone.

“But still it’s not good enough no matter how much excuses I can come up with – it’s still not good enough for the position we’re in right now.”