Journalist and author Will Hayward writes about the driving force behind his new book

I have covered Wales as a journalist for 10 years.

I moved here just under two decades ago and never left. I fell in love with Wales. It was the place I never realised I was looking for. It’s now my home and my whole adult life has been here.

Am I Welsh yet? I am not sure. As Plaid Cymru’s first MP Gwynfor Evans said: “Anyone can be Welsh, you just have to be willing to accept the consequences.”

Covering the politics of a nation as a journalist, I think I came to understand it in a way I wouldn’t have been able to do in another profession.

Once I started looking at issues in Wales and asking questions, I was incredibly surprised by one thing.

I wasn’t surprised at the challenges Wales faces, in our hospitals, our schools, our economy or our creaking transport system.

What really shocked me was how many people seemed to accept this was an acceptable status quo.

Time and again as a political reporter I have covered ways in which Wales has been screwed over.

It blew my mind how many people in Cymru didn’t know about how they were being shafted.

I also couldn’t get over how few people in a nation which is being repeatedly punched in the face even bothered to vote in the Senedd elections.

So I decided to write a book. It is called Who Cares About Wales? Why the Welsh Need to Get Angry.

I spent a year speaking to hundreds of people all across Wales to understand the real reasons why Cymru is relentlessly at the bottom of so many metrics.

I delved into the details of how Wales is actually funded, who actually speaks for us and why we are poor.

I couldn’t believe what I found. People in Wales shouldn’t be angry – they need to be apoplectic.

Not because of slights from 500 years ago, but because we have the worst housing, health service, educational outcomes and levels of poverty in the UK.

We need to be incandescent that the very system in which we operate is geared up so we can’t help but fail.

In so many ways we are treated worse than Scotland. We have been given responsibility without the tools to meaningfully improve our lives.

We need to be furious that we are in a system which scorns and dismisses us when it bothers to notice us at all.

And we need to reserve a special level of rage for those people elected to be our voice who are barely raising a peep at these injustices.

Within the book I look at a dozen different areas where Wales is being screwed both in Westminster and Cardiff Bay. I will break some of these down for you now.

Where the money comes from

There is not enough space here to fully outline the true scale of how Wales’ is given a raw deal when it comes to funding but let me give you an idea of how we compare to Scotland.

Perhaps the biggest illustration of how the current system sets Wales up to fail is around the ability to carry over money.

Anyone who runs a department in government or a business knows that feeling at the end of the financial year.

You were allocated X amount of money for your budget and you have a bit left with just a few weeks left in the financial year.

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This means you need to spend it fast because anything left will be taken back and you are likely to end up with a lower budget next year.

This leads to a mad rush to get money out of the door.

You pay suppliers in advance for work they might do, you buy a load of new furniture for the office or hurry through a marketing campaign. As you can imagine, this doesn’t exactly lead to value for money.

In a Welsh Government context this is a real problem.

After all, if it is important to get all your money out of the door then you are not rewarded for making good decisions.

For example, during the pandemic, the Welsh Government spent a fraction of what the UK Government did on contact tracing.

In Wales, we used councils, whereas the UK Government used large companies like Serco. In this case, doesn’t it make sense for the Welsh Government to be able to carry forward that cash for a future year?

Yes it does. That is why Wales has a thing called the Wales reserve.

Think of it as a savings account where the Welsh Government can stick money it doesn’t spend from its annual budget for next year.

Seems like a good idea, huh? Well it would be, except it is built in a way which treats Wales like a naughty teenager.

The first thing is the Welsh reserve is limited. The total the Welsh Government can have in the reserve is £350m. While that might sound like a lot, it really isn’t in a government context.

The government’s budget is £26bn. This means the Welsh reserve is just 1.35% of its budget. And that £350m isn’t per year, that is the total it can carry.

This means that if the Welsh Government reserve is full, then any money which isn’t spent is just taken back by the Treasury in Westminster.

What makes this system even worse is the UK Treasury has imposed limits on how much of its own reserves Wales can even use!

Each year the Welsh Government can only draw down (aka spend) £125m for resource spending (day-to-day administration costs) and £50m for capital spending (stuff like building a new road).

These are tiny amounts when you are talking about a whole country, £50m will barely get you anything when it comes to infrastructure.

So of that £350m, Wales can only access £175m a year.

Let’s compare Wales to Scotland when it comes to carrying over money.

Scotland has a reserve limit of £700m, double that of Wales. Now you might argue this makes sense given Scotland’s budget is more than double Wales’.

However, in Scotland there are no limits on how much it can draw down (they abolished this for Scotland in 2023) and the total increases annually with inflation.

There is simply no justification for Wales being treated differently to Scotland. The UK Government isn’t able to get away with treating Scotland like Wales because the Scottish wouldn’t stand for it.

It is the same when it comes to borrowing. While Wales is now allowed to borrow up to £1bn for capital purposes (big long-term investments on buildings and infrastructure), we also have an annual cap of £150m.

That means the Welsh Government is only allowed to borrow the equivalent of 0.58% of its budget every year.

This is severely limiting when it comes to being able to make the investments Wales so desperately needs. We have less borrowing powers than a council.

This is even more outrageous when you compare this with Scotland’s deal.

The Scottish Government can borrow up to £3bn cumulatively for capital investment, with an annual limit of £450m. But the worst part is Scotland’s limits change with inflation whereas Cymru’s are fixed for 10 years. So, Scotland not only has a better deal, it is getting cumulatively better every year.

Are you beginning to see why Wales needs to get angry yet?

Let me give you one more example when it comes to how we are funded.

One of the biggest areas Wales is getting short-changed is in research and development (R&D) spending.

In the east/south-east of England and London, there was £1,406 of R&D spending per person. This is 42% above the national average which is £987.

At the other end of the spectrum, the figure for Wales is just £534, 46% below the national average.

So why is this important? Well it matters because R&D funding is what drives wealth, well-paid jobs and industrial development.

This underlines the fallacy of devolving income tax, because Wales doesn’t have control over these things which could meaningfully increase that tax base through policy decisions.

If you look at the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and where it is allocating its money, it is pretty stark.

This department funds UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) which is the UK’s national funding agency which invests in science and research across the United Kingdom.

Wales receives less than half the per-person UKRI funding of the lowest English regions, and roughly one-quarter of London’s level

Wales must get its fair share of the money which actually creates prosperity.

The current system gives Wales better public services than it would be able to support economically because it is poor.

But it doesn’t stop Wales being poor and doesn’t give it the ability to make itself better. This is key.

When it comes to Wales, the current system is basically subsidising the status quo.

We don’t receive a population share of the spending areas which could actually make a difference.

A fair share of these areas must be guaranteed, not subject to the whims of ministers in London.

Poverty and young people

If you want to see the challenges Wales faces, go and stand on Fitzhamon Embankment in Cardiff city centre. It is on the west bank of the River Taff.

As you would expect for a street in the middle of a capital city, it is always busy.

It is right on the Taff Trail path, leading south to Cardiff Bay and going north, it would eventually take you all the way through the South Wales Valleys and the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park before finishing in Brecon.

There are commuters on their way to work, coming in on foot or exiting Cardiff Central station. At weekends, Riverside Farmers Market is held there.

What I have always found fascinating about this street is how different things are when you look east and west.

When you look east across the river, you are struck by the huge investment that has poured into Cardiff over the last 25 years.

The view is impressive. The Principality Stadium, an internationally-respected venue. The new HMRC tax office. The new BBC Wales building. Cardiff University’s School of Journalism. The new Cardiff bus station.

Once upon a time, you would have seen the iconic Brains Brewery, but now there is a lone chimney in the heart of a development of two high-rise buildings with more than 700 apartments.

There is an inescapable feeling of wealth and health. The data backs this up.

The smallest unit of geographic statistical measurement we have in Wales is called the Lower Super Output Area (LSOA).

As of the summer of 2025, there were 1,909 LSOAs in Wales and each one contained about 3,000 people or 1,200 households.

Of those areas, the part of the Welsh capital I have just described is top when it comes to employment and income. It is second in terms of health.

When you are looking at almost 2,000 areas, being top is quite impressive.

But if you turn your head 180° to look west, you can see the Riverside area of Cardiff.

This is the total opposite. It ranks 1,903 out of 1,909 for housing, 1,804 for employment, 1,804 for income and 1,852 for health.

If you are a bloke in Riverside, you have the lowest life expectancy of any ward in Cardiff.

Perhaps the most shocking statistic is that every time you see a child, the chances are they are growing up in poverty, because Riverside has a 55% child poverty rate.

These two places are right next to each other, separated only by a sewage-filled river (I also look at the environment in the book).

This should hammer home to you that mere proximity to wealth does not stop people being poor.

In 21st Century Britain, wealth does not trickle down. Like rain in the desert, it has evaporated long before it hits the floor.

One in five people in Wales live in poverty. That is 700,000 people in our country of just over 3m.

Of this total, there are 400,000 working-age adults, 200,000 children and 100,000 pensioners.

What blows my mind in Wales is that of all of the age groups, kids have consistently had the highest poverty rates, followed by working-age adults with children, while pensioners, along with working-age adults without children, have the lowest.

We currently have a situation in Wales where 40% of our children aged up to four years old live in poverty, yet successive Welsh Governments have relentlessly patted themselves on the back for the Well-being of Future Generations Act.

It’s like me asking you to praise me for creating a health and safety plan while my house is on fire.

The evidence that growing up in poverty negatively impacts children is overwhelming.

Children who grow up in poverty are more likely to face long-term disadvantages in education (early cognitive delays and lower qualifications), health (poorer physical and mental health into adulthood) and income (reduced lifetime earnings and higher financial insecurity).

This all contributes to every other issue in Welsh society.

You can’t fix schools, hospitals and productivity when 40% of your kids are spending their first years on this planet in poverty.

But you also can’t fix poverty when you have poorly performing schools, hospitals and lower productivity.

It’s an abominable chicken and egg situation (we talk about farming in the book too) which will take immense political courage and long-term vision to fix.

This brings me to my last point…

This only changes if we make it

When I say people don’t care, I am not just talking about politicians and government officials. I mean many of us, right here in Wales, don’t seem to really care we are being condemned to being perpetually poor and languishing in stagnation.

There is this acceptance that: “Of course Wales is poor. We always have been.”

Charities and non-governmental organisations are terrified to bite the hand which starves them.

Many labour under the illusion that because they have stuck the word ‘Cymru’ after their name, they are doing their bit.

However, I really believe this is on all of us in Wales. Change will only happen if we get angry and demand it. But anger needs to be directed in the right direction.

If you live in Cymru, you have every right to be furious with the current situation. But misplaced fury will do more harm than good. It is not the migrant in the boat who has caused Wales’ current plight, it is the politician in a suit.

Last weekend, I went to the amazing Wales v Italy Six Nations game. Before the match starts, Welsh men and women are visibly moved to tears as they belt out Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau inside the Millennium Stadium.

To be Welsh is in the very soul of these people here.

Go abroad and you will always know when you meet a Welsh person, because they will have told you within 45 seconds.

But fewer than half of the people in Wales even vote in our elections. If we want this thing called Wales to work, we need to do more.

The greatest block to making Wales prosperous isn’t our substandard politicians, it is the apathy of our people and how disengaged they are from the nation they love.

The thing I most took away from my years working as a journalist and writing this book was this: the only way Wales will improve is if the people of Wales make it happen. No-one is coming to help us. We have to help ourselves. Right now, we are collectively failing.

On May 20, 2025, I was watching First Minister’s Questions inside the Senedd.

It was being broadcast on the BBC website. At one point there were just 10 people watching it. 10.

In the last Senedd election in 2021, most people who were eligible to vote in Wales didn’t even bother. It was just a 46% turnout. In Scotland it was 17 percentage points higher.

We are totally disengaged from this country we proclaim to love.

Yes, Wales and the Welsh nation has been screwed over from pretty much the moment it was conceived, but right now, in 2026, we are as much to blame as anyone for our plight. Culpable through our own apathy.

Who cares about Wales? Just us. Luckily, that’s all Wales needs. But to make ‘caring’ mean anything, we need to truly understand what our problems are and then use our anger to force the changes that are needed.

The pair exchanged service games without a single break point in the entire contest, and in the end it came down to the almost inevitable two tie-breaks.

If there is any moment that Draper may choose to dwell on for improvement, it would be in those decisive moments, but even then chances were scarce.

“I think I could have done a few things better, but it was pretty tough,” he said.

“I didn’t have many chances, especially on his serve. I didn’t get broken in the match. That was kind of my job, right?”

The two sets were almost carbon copies of each other, with both players holding serve until Opelka pounced in the tie-break. In the second, he carved out a 6-0 lead and then sealed the victory with what else but an ace.

Draper said before the tournament that his body was still adjusting to the demands of what he wanted to do, as he continues his return to fitness from an arm injury, but the contest against Opelka was not a physical one.

At Indian Wells, Draper strung together an impressive run to the quarter-finals, including a win over Novak Djokovic that he only had the time to reflect on the plane to Miami. After the loss to Opelka, he may dwell on it before wheels up.

St Brides Spa Hotel has been picked by The Times and Sunday Times as one of the top 50 hotels in the UK

It’s one of Wales’ best coastal hotel with sweeping views of Carmarthen Bay, a luxurious clifftop spa, cosy, classy rooms and a cracking restaurant.

St Bride’s Hotel and Spa in Saundersfoot has also recently been named as one of the UK’s 50 best places to stay in the UK in The Times and The Sunday Times Best Places to Stay 2026 list.

It absolutely deserves its spot on the list – as well as its title of ‘Best in Wales’ for 2026 at the AA Hospitality Awards, too.

The annual list, compiled by travel experts from the two newspapers, highlights standout hotels across Britain based on style, service, food and location.

This January I was lucky enough to stay at St Bride’s and experience why it’s such a wonderful hotel and location.

Cosy rooms, comfortable bar area, great restaurant all come together here to make a fine night’s escape from the everyday but it has to be its phenomenal spa area that should top the USP rating for St Bride’s Hotel, which overlooks the gorgeous Saundersfoot village and sandy beach – that stretches out in front of you whether you are sat eating your breakfast or mulling over life itself in the warm hydrotherapy pool.

I’ve long been a visitor to this corner of Pembrokeshire and if it’s summer, I’d usually opt for a an airbnb or cosy cottage, staying away from so called ‘luxury’ escapes – one, because they are too expensive and two, just because when I’m in Pembrokeshire I want it to feel like I’m in Pembrokeshire. I feared a luxury hotel would detract from this… make you feel like you were at a cut and paste accommodation.

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But dunk me in an ice bath and tell me I’m wrong, because in this moment there was nothing better than a escaping to the long-established Saundersfoot gem and for the record, you could definitely tell you were in Pembrokeshire good and proper.

Now run by the Celtic Collection, that owns Celtic Manor, Ty Milford amongst others. St Bride’s has been revamped with a new-look spa and its 34 bedrooms have had a makeover, not to mention it’s got the Cliff Restaurant on site, too. It being a special occasion, as well as a much-needed escape to some downtime, my group had booked a dinner, bed and breakfast package with spa access too.

Almost as soon as we checked in we were headed to the spa (I’d take your own flipflops unless you want soggy slip-ons). We’d not booked any treatments, we just wanted to sit, float and steam ourselves into oblivion with the odd excitable conversation about The Traitors and encouraging other groups to use the exhilarating cold water bucket at the side of the outside sauna. ( They did and loved it).

The spa itself is recently redone in the past year and is stunning. I may not have been to every single coastal spa in the UK, but I’ll say this felt so calm and lux, we just were in our element. There’s two saunas, one indoor, one out, steam rooms, salt steam room, the hydrotherapy pool. outdoor jacuzzi and the Himalayan salt and infrared therapy room.

To be honest I’m not a fan of steam rooms and the salt room was slightly underwhelming – but that’s because all I was hankering after was lazing in the infinity hydrotherapy pool which was warm and, unlike a hot tub, had plenty of room as well as a powerful, neck massaging tap.

The outdoor sauna was wonderful – sweeping views of Carmarthenshire Bay via floor to ceiling windows and while remaining warm and imbibing that comforting scent of heated wood. Yes, we did douse ourselves in cold water but that’s only because we could get straight back in the hydrotherapy pool, which also allowed you to take in those views.

For those wanting a a break from being in the pool or sauna, the relaxation room has heated beds and refreshing drinks. For the latest restaurant news and reviews, sign up to our food and drink newsletter here

I honestly can’t effuse enough about how lovely it was spending a couple of hours switching off with one of the best views in Wales in front of you.

I thought my day couldn’t get any better but after rinsing the room of its coffee-making facilities we headed down for dinner. It might be a me-problem, in that I always expect mediocrity at a hotel restaurant, maybe it’s growing up in the ’80s and ’90s – but thankfully I’m quite often proved wrong.

The package we had included a three-course dinner at the AA Rosette awarded The Cliff. I started off with seaweed cured salmon, beetroot confit egg yolk, popped wheat and dill lemon gel, followed by fillet of beef with lobster beignet, charred octopus,onion velouté and Cheddar crackling.

Other options included a pressing of ham knuckle, egg and mustard soufflé, pickled cucumber, frisée lettuce and roasted duck breast with rich faggot, fondant potato,soused blackberries and liquorice sauce.

My starter of salmon was good. Substantial slivers of the fish which had bite of salt to it thanks to the seaweed and I felt the soft, flavoursome egg added an extra oomph to a delicate starter, as did the tart dill lemon gel. But the beef fillet was incredible.

A hunk of medium-rare cooked beef, the kind you always think looks small, but in reality is enough. It was toped with a bit of charred octopus and a lobster beignet – which is a small, deep-fried dough. Altogether a powerful set of flavours, but each one was done with care and delicacy none overwhelmed the other and created a delightful combo. The beef cut like butter and had a real depth of flavourm, each meaty mouthful keeping up with the next, the octopus brought an added lighter flavour and texture to the mix, while the beignet was just lush. slight crispness, not doughy at all in the middle – so dangerously beautiful. No wonder it was modest in size as if I ate more of them (which I definitely would) I’d be cooked. Game over.

The onion velouté provided a warm, thick sauce to pull all the items together. On the side we ordered amazing chorizo crumb and Gran Levante cheese fries, tenderstem broccoli,tomato pesto, almonds and charred cabbage, dill, lime yoghurt and crispy onions.

I smashed the hell out of those sides. The fries were like crack. Moreish, salty with a chew of a the bits of chorizo and the cheese was crumby too, which sounds weird but it works. The two veggies were paired with ingredients that just elevated boring, green veg to something I could polish off in a flash. The slight disappointment was that the sides were extra when, if you pay for a three course meal package you’d hope your mains would come with vegetable sides as standard.

By this point I didn’t even need a dessert, but it was coming anyway so I opted for the classic sticky toffee pudding, something that everyone could enjoy a spoonful of – and did. It was a lighter, more airy sponge than what you’d normally expect from a STP but this did not make it less enjoyable, the flavour however was a cut above, it had a really smart cinnamon flavour, which was dominant but not overdone. So not too sweet, but a really warming, pleasing taste that made the salted caramel sauce seem even better. A belter of a dessert – even if I didn’t need it.

If after your dinner you want to relax and grab another drink the bar area is big and comfortable and the ideal place to hang out. Rooms-wise, I feel the Celtic Collection have really done a lovely job with what was already there – St Bride’s has been around for years – as the standard bedrooms are quite modest in size. But they are decorated beautifully, with a stylish nod to the seaside location. Beds are gorgeously comfy, but if you suffer with neck trouble, I recommend requesting a firmer pillow if they have it.

As a whole package, for what we wanted to achieve on our stay, ie. nothing but pure relaxation, St Brides Spa Hotel is a no-brainer. It’s comfy, chilled and at the centre of one the the best places in the world.

Carrick then added that he felt the Amad and Evanilson penalty decisions were similar: “Where do you start, really? Listen, maybe he’s passed Harry [Maguire] and that’s the right decision and he’s given that. I haven’t got too much of a problem, I haven’t seen it back to be totally honest, but I think if he’s passed him and he’s in on goal, I can understand that decision, so I’m not going we deserve everything.

She has amassed over 20k followers on Tik Tok after starting to share her favourite foodie finds in February 2025. However, it’s her custard slice tour inspired by her late mother which has really taken off.

Dawn Fearn is a Welsh hero. The 52-year-old from Morriston has decided to share her love for a specific dessert online, by taking part in a custard slice tour of South Wales.

Dawn, who cares for two ladies with dementia, has decided to share her nostalgic passion for the dessert in an attempt to find the best custard slice in Wales.

She has amassed over 20,000 followers on Tik Tok after starting to share her favourite foodie finds in February 2025. However, it’s her custard slice tour, inspired by her late mother, which has really taken off. From superstar gigs to cosy pubs, find out What’s On in Wales by signing up to our newsletter here

Dawn told Wales Online that she started he social media accounts a year ago, as an outlet away from her caring duties. She said: “Well, I’ve been doing a bit of social media since last February. Because I care for two ladies with dementia in my own home, it was just a way of me getting out of the house and being able to be me, because, I think sometimes your identity can get a little bit lost.

“So I just started doing a bit on social media and if I went to a café, I’d review it on TikTok. Then I did a few walks and it’s just kind of grown. Then I think because I’m getting a bit older now, and doing a bit of reminiscing, I was thinking about my mum and going for a custard slice.

“When we were younger we’d have Custard Slice Day, so I don’t know what day it was, but we’d go down to our local café and we’d always a custard slice. I’ve always loved a custard slices, so you know I’d often buy one and I was sitting in the car one day and I’d bought one and I was just like ‘why don’t I try different custard slices, do you know what I am, I’m going to try different custard slices.’

“Now, I’m just just shy of 5000 followers on Instagram which is mental.”

Originally inspired by her late mother who passed away ten years ago, Dawn said that she thinks about her every time she tries a new custard slice. She explained: “Every custard slice I have I do think of her. Me and the ladies I care for usually share, I try not to eat a whole one. We share the custard slices and I did one video where I went to CK’s to see them being made and they gave me four boxes to bring home. So the ladies had custard slices for like two days.”

She joked that everyone thinks she has eaten loads of custard slices however, she tries to rein it in where she can. Dawn said: “I mean, somebody said to me in the street, they were like ‘how many custard slices have you eaten in a day?’ I was just like, I have maybe two a week, maybe. I’m not eating them everyday, even though it on social media it seem like I’m eating them all the time.”

Dawn explained that the series has received an amazing reaction, and even the popular Sticky Toffee Pudding reviewer has taken notice of her content. Many commenters have been recommending their favourite custard slice spots in south Wales. She said: “They tend to always comment on the posts saying ‘you’ve got to try this place, these are the best ones’ and they send me a photo or I get messages on Instagram saying ‘in my opinion you need to try this one.’”

When asked where she found the best custard slices on the tour, Dawn said that she has three contenders, however she is yet to find a 10/10. Armed with her trusty custard slice ruler, she explained: “I haven’t given a 10 yet, but I am very stingy, I just don’t tend to give 10s. It’s got to be absolutely out of this world. At some point, I am going to have to pin a winner.

“Glynneath Tea Rooms is up there because they are probably the closest to a custard slice that I remember, along with Fablas in Cowbridge which is also the same kind of scoring and Crazy Baker in Swansea. They’re more of a creamy custard slice.

“Now, Glynneath Tearooms for me is what I would say is a proper custard slice. You know the custard is like that set custard that I just remember and they are massive as well. It’s a lovely place, Glynneath Tearooms, it’s like old school tearooms.”

Although, some of her reviews have been met with some controversy from the custard slice fan club. Dawn said: “I’ve had one of the ones that scored 9.5 ask what could they have done to make it a 10, which is fair enough. But I did have some controversy over pastry in one, and I think that was like my third one in. I was just like ‘oh what am i doing’ because it it did get quite heated.

“For me, I just think a custard slice shouldn’t have shortcrust pastry it should be the kind of puff pastry. So I did have a bit of controversy over that one and unfortunately the place I visited got involved and yeah it just got a little bit heated shall we say. At the end of the day it’s just it’s my personal choice. I think I said in one video I’m not the custard slice police it’s just my preference.”

Next up on her tour, Dawn is hoping to expand her horizons past Swansea and Neath. So far she’s been to Tonypandy and Carmarthen, and is hoping to head to Cardiff and Cwmbran next.

When she’s finally ran out of custard slices to try in South Wales, Dawn has planned her next food tour. She revealed: “I have been toying with doing rissoles, because they are another thing that are kind of quite Welsh.

“My husband’s English, so when I said to him about having a rissole when we were first together, he was like, ‘what?’ He’d never heard of rissoles. It’s really weird, so yeah they might be next on the list.”

Actor and martial artist Chuck Norris died aged 86, his family announced on Instagram. In their statement, his family said they prefer to keep the circumstances private, but described Norris’ loss as “sudden”.

They went on to say, “We know many of you had heard about his recent hospitalisation, and we are truly grateful for the prayers and support you sent his way”. The Hollywood action star died “at peace” surrounded by his family.

Follow this story here.

Joe Kent, who served as President Donald Trump’s counterterrorism chief, has pushed back against reports that he is under FBI investigation, insisting he “did nothing wrong” and denouncing the alleged probe as a “sideshow.”

Kent resigned as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center on Tuesday over his staunch opposition to the war in Iran, which he claimed Trump had been deceived into starting. The next day, multiple news outlets reported that the FBI had opened an investigation into Kent over allegations he inappropriately shared classified material.

“As for the leak allegations, I’m not concerned because I know I did nothing wrong,” Kent told Megyn Kelly, a popular conservative podcaster, in an interview released on Friday.

“Of course, I am concerned because we’ve all seen the FBI and the full weight of the government come down on individuals who speak out,” he added. “So that has me a little concerned but I know the truth and the facts are on my side.”

Kelly, one of several right‑wing media figures to speak out against the war, noted that Trump and his allies have relentlessly attacked Kent, branding him as weak and even accusing him of treason. She asked whether the fallout from his resignation had angered him.

“It does anger me,” he said. “But it’s all just to be expected. I knew this was going to happen. I know their playbook.”

He also insinuated that the bureau’s investigation may not even be real.

“If there truly was an FBI investigation — and who knows maybe there will be — then there would be a process and a procedure for that. They would actually formally come to me, and if they were still collecting information they most certainly wouldn’t leak it,” Kent said.

When reached for comment by The Independent, an FBI spokesperson declined to comment on the probe.

“I feel very confident in what I’m doing right now,” Kent added. “I think I have a mission, and I think it is to do everything I can to stop this war. To me I kind of view everything else as a sideshow.”

Kent’s interview with Kelly is among several media appearances he has made since posting his resignation letter to X on Tuesday morning, which quickly went viral and drew more than 100 million views.

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” he wrote. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

The 20-year Army veteran — whose Navy officer wife died while serving in Syria — added that he “cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people.”

Kent expanded on his decision to leave the administration in an interview with Tucker Carlson released on Wednesday. He told Carlson that the Israelis “drove the decision” to go to war and that Iran was not on the verge of developing a nuclear bomb.

He also claimed that, during his tenure, he was blocked from investigating the September assassination of Charlie Kirk, which he insinuated may have been carried out by foreign actors.

The White House — which was reportedly caught off guard by Kent’s sudden departure — has dismissed his decision as inconsequential.

Trump said he “realized that it’s a good thing that he’s out” after reading his resignation letter on Tuesday. The president also characterized Kent as “weak on security.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the episode “laughable” and took issue with the ex-counterrorism chief’s claim that Iran posed no imminent threat to the U.S.

“As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first,” Leavitt wrote on X.

Recent polls show that a majority of Americans are opposed to the war in Iran, which has now entered its third week.

Tributes have been paid to martial arts icon and action movie star Chuck Norris, who has died aged 86.

The Hollywood actor was remembered by US President Donald Trump, as well as a host of celebrities and his own family, who called him a “warrior” with a heart “full of love”.

Norris saw a resurgence in popularity after an early internet meme – consisting of jokes presented as “facts” exaggerating his strength and abilities – propelled him to online fame in the mid-2000s.

Born in Oklahoma in 1940, Norris joined the US Air Force in his late teens and began training in martial arts while stationed in South Korea, eventually earning a black belt and becoming a six-time undefeated World Professional Middleweight Karate champion.

After transitioning into acting, Norris landed his breakthrough role in The Way of the Dragon in 1972 opposite Bruce Lee, before going on to star in more than 20 movies, including Missing in Action and The Delta Force.

His role in long-running TV series Walker, Texas Ranger cemented his fame.

Norris’s family shared the news of the actor’s “sudden passing” just days after his 86th birthday on Friday, describing him as “the heart of our family” who lived with “faith, purpose and an unwavering commitment to the people he loved”.

“While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace,” his family said.

The US president joined in the tributes to the movie star, telling reporters outside the White House that Norris was a “great guy” and “tough cookie”.

“You didn’t want to fight him, I’ll tell you,” Trump said.

Norris’s daughter, Danielle, said: “He may have a warrior exterior, but his heart was so full of love and I’m so grateful that is something he and my mom passed down to me.”

One of his grandchildren, Greta, paid a tribute to the actor in a post on Instagram that referenced the “Chuck Norris facts” genre of internet joke that played on Norris’s persona as a tough guy and invincible fighter.

“You all knew Chuck Norris as the man that counted to infinity twice, the man who got bit by a cobra and the cobra died,” she said.

“He was the man that would not do a push-up but would push the earth down.

“Chuck Norris was known for many amazing things, but what I am most proud of is I got to know him as my Papa.”

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Action stars Sylvester Stallone, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren paid tribute to Norris, who they all starred alongside in The Expendables 2 in 2012.

In his final Facebook post shared on 10 March to mark his birthday, Norris said: “I don’t age. I level up.”

“I’m grateful for another year, good health and the chance to keep doing what I love,” he added.

Political conservative and meme legend

Shortly after an appearance in the 2004 film Dodgeball, Norris became the focus of an early viral internet meme that would propel him to a new level of fame.

The format of the joke presented wildly hyperbolic statements about his strength and prowess as facts, such as “Chuck Norris had a staring contest with the sun – and won”.

Another one reads: “The flu gets a Chuck Norris shot every year”.

Norris has also been outspoken about his conservative views, including support for gun rights.

He endorsed Donald Trump for his first presidential run in 2016.

Norris is survived by his wife Gena O’Kelley, five children and 13 grandchildren.

​​Haven Leisure’s proposal to build a jump tower where people can jump from a platform with a soft landing and climbing wall at its Blue Dolphin Holiday park in Filey has been given the go-ahead by North Yorkshire Council (NYC).

​The scheme will involve associated ground works and will be located to the south of an existing facilities building and to the west of an existing owners’ lounge.

No objections were made by members of the public or Gristhorpe Parish Council.

​Officers considered whether the proposal would have a negative visual impact on the area but concluded that it was “unlikely to be readily distinguishable or be unduly prominent in long views of the holiday park”.

​Haven Leisure said that the jump tower and climbing wall will not be floodlit and will only be operational during daylight hours.

​​“The site currently houses a climbing wall set over bark chipping with a fence and grassland. This activity area is used regularly by guests only during the opening times of the park,” according to submitted proposals.

NYC noted that the development is located in the developed part of the holiday park and that the jump tower “would be visible from the road but would be viewed against the backdrop of the existing metal-clad buildings”.

Officers added: “The proposal is slightly taller than the adjacent building but is not considered to result in harm.

“The proposed development would be viewed within the context of the holiday park and is not considered to result in undue harm to the immediate context or setting when travelling along The Marr or Bowes Lane.”

The application was approved by North Yorkshire Council, subject to conditions.