​North Yorkshire Council is examining the possible freehold sale of Alpamare as an operational waterpark as part of a request for proposal (RFP) that has been issued to five specialist leisure agents.

​Last month, the authority said that “all options” are on the table for the waterpark at Burniston Road, which it took control of following the collapse of the site’s developer in 2023.

​The site was reopened in July 2024 under the operators of ​Flamingo Land, based in nearby Malton, which originally secured a contract to run it for 12 months, with an option to extend its lease for a further year.

​Its lease is set to expire at the end of October and Flamingo Land has been informed that “the council is exploring future options for the asset, including a potential disposal”.

​Officers are currently exploring a “range of options for the future of the Alpamare site, having regard to its strategic location within the wider North Bay regeneration area”, councillors were told at a meeting in Whitby this week.

​Cllr Liz Colling, chair of the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee, said that five specialist leisure agents had been invited to propose and present potential strategies for the sale of the site.

​The request for proposal (RFP) is intended to inform the North Yorkshire Council’s understanding of market interest and potential approaches, and is “one element of the wider review being undertaken to inform consideration of future options for the Alpamare site”.

​She told the committee: “The RFP will focus on a freehold sale of Alpamare as an operational waterpark.

​“However, bidders may propose offers incorporating one or more vacant development plots within the North Bay area, where this can be justified as necessary to support Alpamare’s long-term financial viability and contribute positively to the wider leisure and entertainment offer.”

​During Flamingo Land’s remaining term of the lease, officers will continue to review and assess options for the future of the Alpamare site, including, but not limited to, a potential disposal.

​However, while officers will work to progress a preferred option within this timeframe, the council said it may be necessary, subject to mutual agreement, to extend the existing agreement with Flamingo Land.

​“Any preferred option arising from this work will be subject to further appraisal and reported to members for consideration at the appropriate time.”

​​The attraction opened in 2016 with the help of a £9m loan that was granted by the now-defunct Scarborough Borough Council to developer Benchmark Leisure Ltd.

​But the developer went into administration in October 2023, leading North Yorkshire Council to take possession of the site and write off the £7.8m that remained unpaid.

​​Last year, a fact-finding review by the council’s auditor concluded that the decision to grant a loan to Benchmark Leisure Limited was “undoubtedly risky”.

​In 2024, the council did not rule out subsidising the waterpark in the longer term.

Sarr dispatched the resultant penalty before Jorgen Strand Larsen fired low past Guglielmo Vicario, with Sarr nicking ahead of the Italian goalkeeper to score Palace’s third as Spurs capitulated in a remarkable first-half, with the second 45 little more than an exhibition.

When I started working at The Telegraph, I didn’t live in London, where our office is, and found myself commuting for hours everyday. If for nothing else, it was great for sneaking in some extra sleep after an early start, although my neck (and back) were not best pleased with the sedentary lifestyle. Since then, I’ve spent many a train journey testing different travel pillows to find the best.

Travel pillows come in all shapes and sizes, some cosy, some cooling, but the best travel pillows support your neck 360 degrees around, to prevent the over-flexing of muscles on any one side.

That all round support is particularly crucial for middle or aisle seats, where you have nothing to rest your head against. The best neck pillows for travel also clip onto your backpack or suitcase, so you don’t need to worry about taking up precious room in your luggage.

You don’t need to spend a fortune to get it right. The Best Value pillow I tried, from Go Travel, cost just £20. Trtl, Cabeau and Bcozzy pillows are more expensive around the £60 mark. “For those who often struggle to find a comfortable sleeping position while in transit, investing in a quality pillow can be a game-changer for achieving restful sleep during long journeys,” says Alex Kallen, founder of travel blog Leap Local.

Which is the best travel pillow? At a glance

JUMP TO THE REVIEWS

Brook and McCullum have also kept spirits high on this trip, an impressive feat given what had come before.

The tour began with Brook standing up in front of the group in a Colombo hotel and apologising to his team-mates for his Wellington escapades.

In the end he took the blame again, but this time for a dropped catch rather than any trip into the night.

Brook’s drop of Sanju Samson should not distract from a definite improvement in fielding during this tournament, under the eyes of rehired fielding coach Carl Hopkinson.

A slapdash approach to training was another accusation made in Australia but here England have trained hard, often longer into the night than expected.

And while that should be seen as par for the course, McCullum and Brook also deserve credit for their tactical calls on this trip.

Liam Dawson and Sam Curran were recalled to relative success, while Will Jacks excelled in a new role as a finisher.

Brook played the innings of his T20 career after McCullum suggested moving to number three.

But doubt clearly remains whether that is enough to save McCullum, having taken England to a point viewed as the bare minimum before a ball was bowled.

Having your future hinge on a World Cup semi-final against India in Mumbai is the toughest of schools but this was a situation of McCullum’s making.

It was he who oversaw the Ashes planning that did not include a warm-up game, and allowed the mid-series trip to Noosa.

It was on McCullum’s watch Brook, Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue felt able to visit a nightclub the night before an international fixture.

Just how bad the Ashes were should not and can not be forgotten.

Other key stakeholders are managing director Rob Key and Test captain Ben Stokes, who are both back in the UK after beginning the week stranded in the United Arab Emirates with England Lions.

Key spent time around the squad during this tournament and his position will also be discussed by those above.

Stokes is the most secure, though he and McCullum appeared conflicted in their messaging at times in Australia.

Stokes batted 152 balls for 50 runs in Brisbane and called for his team to “show a bit of dog” in Adelaide but when another defeat came five days later, thus confirming Australia would hold onto the urn, McCullum spoke of his disappointment that England had drifted from their attacking style of play.

Despite that, Stokes backed McCullum before and after the fifth Test in Sydney when he could have been more vague.

Brook was also steadfast in his defence of McCullum on Thursday night, saying the former New Zealand captain was “125%” the man to continue.

“The things he’s done over the four years since he took over has changed English cricket for hopefully the best,” Brook said.

“He’s the best head coach I’ve ever had.”

Critics would say it is no surprise players would back a coach whose key philosophy is a relaxed environment.

There is plenty to be considered over the weeks ahead.

McCullum wants to stay and his players still believe in him. Will that be enough?

Ards North Down to trial bins at Ward Park in Bangor and bowling alleys

A Northern Ireland council is to erect public recycling street bins for the very first time.

Elected representatives at Ards and North Down Borough Council this week agreed to trial recycling litter bins at selected spots in the borough, after councillors admitted its lack of public recycling street bins sent out a “poor message”.

Councillors at the March meeting of the local authority’s Environment Committee this week approved a trial in the borough called “Recycling on the Go.” The £45K trial will commence later in the year for six months, and will focus on plastic drinks bottles and metal drinks cans at Ward Park in Bangor and at bowling greens owned by the council.

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A Notice of Motion was agreed at the Environment Committee last summer stating the council was “pleased” with the recycling rates for waste that had been achieved in the borough, but admitted there were “limited” facilities to recycle litter. The motion stated: “This sends out a poor message to our residents and visitors”.

The council resolved to have a trial designed to “extend recycling opportunities to residents and visitors of Ards and North Down’s public parks and to measure the effectiveness of the scheme infrastructure, communications, and user satisfaction.”

A budget of £45,000 has been set aside for the pilot. This includes £15K for new recycling bins and £30K revenue for communications, operations, and project evaluation.

The official’s report on the trial proposal states: “We propose a phased introduction of new recycling bins, with a pilot exercise in Ward Park and council-managed bowling greens. The containers will be co-located with litter bins in areas of high footfall so that visitors can dispose of rubbish and recycling conveniently at one location.”

It adds: “The scheme will target two key materials streams: plastic drinks bottles and metal drinks cans. These two material streams are recyclable at the kerbside and commonly used by people when out and about.”

It states: “A recent successful pilot by Belfast City Council and environmental charity, Hubbub, found that the recycling comprised almost 50 percent by weight of target material. The trial found that contamination levels were low enough that the recycling could be sent for reprocessing.

“The Ards and North Down pilot will follow the same approach as the Belfast pilot. It will ensure that the containers are clearly labelled with both materials iconography and wording to make targeted recyclable materials clear. This will reduce confusion and contamination.”

DUP Councillor Alistair Cathcart said at the committee meeting: “The key question is whether this will work, and unfortunately when they have been trailed before they havent worked. It is interesting that Belfast has had positive results, which is encouraging.

“I think that starting in the parks is the best thing, and hopefully the behaviour will change around it. The reports show people recycle well at the kerbside, and in their own homes.

“But obviously there are consequences at home: they will not get their bins collected (otherwise). There are no consequences to this (trial), but hopefully changing behaviour and messaging (will get through) that it saves money, as well as being good for the environment.”

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The unofficial soundtrack of every basketball, squash or hard-court tennis match is the constant high-pitched squeak or shreak of the players’ shoes. But can this squeak be designed out of them while retaining the grip?

That’s the question an international team of engineers and applied physicists, including me, have been investigating. It sounds like a small design tweak. In fact, it cuts to a deep physics problem: how a soft body slides against a rigid one.

Perhaps surprisingly, the mechanism that produces sound when a soft solid slides against a stiffer one has long been the subject of scientific debate. Most theories are linked to the concept of “stick-slip”: when, instead of sliding smoothly, the sliding object rapidly alternates between sticking and slipping.

While it sticks, the soft body (such as a rubber sole) deforms and stores elastic energy. Then it suddenly slips, turning much of that energy into heat through friction – while also releasing rapid vibrations that radiate out as sound.

But this is not exactly what we observed in our experiments.

After Leonardo da Vinci

Our recently published study took inspiration from the simple-but-effective setup used by Leonardo da Vinci in his studies of friction from the late 15th century.

Leonardo used a wooden block resting on a flat surface. The block was subjected to two forces: a normal force (its own weight) and a tangential force which was applied using an additional weight attached to a cable.

By stacking and combining multiple blocks, Leonardo discovered the two fundamental laws of friction: that friction is proportional with how hard the surfaces are pressed together, and largely independent of the size of the contact area.

But Leonardo never published these findings, which were finally rediscovered and made public in the 19th century in notebooks scattered throughout Europe. In the meantime, the laws of friction had only been formally enunciated by French physicist Guillaume Amontons in 1699 – two centuries after Leonardo’s studies.

Furthermore, these laws are empirical rather than fundamental, and in extreme cases they break down. This led us to the question of what makes a shoe squeak.

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Leonardo da Vinci’s early work on friction founded the modern science of tribology

A surprising result

One of the biggest difficulties in friction studies is that the interface being tested (where a shoe sole meets a hardwood floor, for example) is hard to get at, and comes under a lot of pressure while slipping at high speed. Placing sensors at the interface is almost impossible – and even if it were, this would probably alter the frictional response.

Our solution was to use an optical trick: we replaced the hardwood floor with a transparent acrylic plate and mounted an array of LED lights along its sides. When each test object – including multiple rubber blocks – made contact with the plate, light would leak into the contact region, brightening up this area alone. That allowed us to visualise exactly which parts of the soft-rigid interface were in contact.

We used a high-speed camera, capable of capturing up to 1 million frames per second, to film how the contact patches evolved while the “sole” was skidding, and recorded the sounds being emitted with a microphone.

We found that at the point of contact, tiny wrinkles in the surface of the rubber block – known as “opening slip pulses” – were created, which then raced along the interface at nearly 100 metres per second. While most of the block remained stuck in place, these rapidly moving wrinkles created the sound in each friction test.

Surprisingly, even tiny geometrical features at the frictional interface had profound effects on the sound generated. When it was perfectly flat and smooth, the pulses were messy and generated a scratch-like noise of many different frequencies – closer to the sound of peeling adhesive tape than a clean squeak.

But when ridges were present, like those on the soles of sport shoes, the pulses were confined by the width of these ridges, making them very regular (not messy any more). This turned the sound into a more musical tone akin to the squeaks heard on a basketball court.

We were also able to determine what decides the precise pitch of a shoe squeak. In each test, it was largely unaffected by either the speed of sliding or magnitude of the force applied (which relates to the weight of a player).

Rather, the clearest link was with the height of the rubber block – or the thickness of a shoe’s sole. Using this knowledge, we created a series of blocks of different heights in order to play a familiar melody, as shown in this video.

Our research lays the groundwork for controlling or suppressing squeaking in many mechanical systems involving soft-on-rigid friction. These range from brakes and tyres to hip and knee replacements, where polymer liners slide against polished metal or ceramic heads.

And yes, it could even lead to the development of squeakless sneakers. Designing intricate patterns that keep plenty of rubber in contact (so the grip stays high) but break the sliding into lots of tiny, out-of-sync microevents could kill the clean note of the squeak, and leave only a soft hush.

Table-top earthquakes

Beyond the realm of sports, this work also relates to much larger geophysical questions. Similar experimental approaches to ours have served as table-top models for studying earthquakes, during which ruptures and slip pulses spread along tectonic faults at extremely high speed.

If we can reproduce earthquake-like slip pulses in the lab, the next challenge is scaling – working out how those centimetre-scale measurements translate to what happens inside real faults in the Earth.

Achieving this could help interpret seismic signals more confidently: using waves recorded far from a fault to infer what has actually happened at the source. Better physics-based models could improve seismic hazard estimates and lead to more reliable hazard maps.

Meanwhile, we’ll keep thinking about squeakless sneakers too.

“It’s been five years of constant upheaval. It was the judicial reform [plans by the government to limit the powers of the Constitutional court which led to huge protests], then 7 October, then Iran a year ago. Now we have this, and we’ve had Lebanon in the middle,” Tom Dan said after leaving a bomb shelter.

What was life like for Scotland pre-Russell, pre the outrageous skill with hand and boot, pre the vision and the execution, the confidence and the personality that gets you off your seat and, yes, the risk-taking that can make you hide behind it at times when it goes wrong?

Scotland’s attack was largely barren in the Six Nations from 2000 to 2015, when Russell turned up in earnest. In 16 consecutive seasons Scotland never made double figures in tries scored in a five-game championship.

They averaged fewer than six tries per tournament. Crossing the line was a Herculean task.

Then, Russell. In his second Six Nations, Scotland scored 11 tries, then 14, then 11, then 14 again. That number slumped to seven in 2000 – the year Russell and his coach, Gregor Townsend, were estranged. The following year, with Russell restored, the try count rose to 18. They average around 14.5 per Six Nations nowadays.

They have 10 in their first three games this time around. This is not all on Russell. He’s had Darcy Graham, Van der Merwe and Steyn out wide, he’s had Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu in the midfield. He’s had Blair Kinghorn at full-back and Ben White and George Horne at scrum-half.

But Russell controls it all and for the best part of a decade he’s been the focus of opposition coaches in every game that he’s played. It’s made life harder, but it’s illustrative of the respect he’s earned.

The Easter Liliy launch will happen at City Hall on March 24

The TUV has failed in an attempt to prevent this year’s Easter Lily launch happening at Belfast City Hall.

The campaign launch has been held in Belfast City Hall previously in 2024 and 2025 by the Belfast National Graves Association. The event commemorates Irish republicans who died in conflict for Irish sovereign independence. The Easter Lily is worn as a symbol of remembrance for those who died in the 1916 Easter Rising.

At the March meeting of the full Belfast City Council at City Hall, elected representatives by a majority vote approved the event for City Hall on March 24. The committee document says the event amounts to “a reception and speeches focusing on local history” and will accommodate up to 80 people.

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In the City Hall vote on a TUV proposal not to hold the event, 17 elected representatives voted in favour, from the unionist parties, while 26 voted against the proposal from Sinn Féin, the SDLP and People Before Profit. The Alliance Party and the Green Party abstained from the vote.

TUV Councillor Ron McDowell said at the council meeting: “This is an annual event that commemorates active service members of the IRA, and I don’t believe it is something we should be facilitating on Section 75 and Good Relations grounds, within Belfast City Council.

“When I think of the IRA, and I can think of many things, but what I think is about the disappeared, those who were abducted from their homes and tortured, and buried in a shallow grave. I think of Jean McConville, who was dragged screaming from her home, and atrocities on the Shankill, where Thomas Begley killed those innocent civilians, and the Bayardo bomb attack in my own constituency.”

Listing a further series of atrocities from the Troubles period, he said: “I reiterate I don’t think this is an event that we should be holding within this council.”

Sinn Féin group leader Councillor Ciarán Beattie replied at the meeting: “You have listed people killed by the IRA, you haven’t mentioned the other several thousand people that were killed. A lot of them were killed by loyalists, the British Army, the RUC.

“All people have their dead who they remember. Every year outside this building there are commemorations for the RUC and the British Army, the same organisation that murdered people in the streets of Ballymurphy and New Lodge and shot children in the face with plastic bullets. That is the experience in this city.

“If you have a problem with one particular group, then have a problem with them all because if you don’t, you are being selective.

“If you look at other events (that we will be hosting) – the Belfast Bands Forum wouldn’t be our cup of tea, or one we would like to support. But we recognise that is the culture and history for one section of society in this city. We have to recognise there are also other communities in this city, and we have to welcome them all.”

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Electricity North West (ENW) has reported that 148 properties in Bromley Cross are currently experiencing a power cut.

They said they’re on site and investigating the issue – estimating that it will be restored by 10.58pm tonight (March 5).

This power cut affects these postcodes: BL7 9AA, BL2 3DU, BL7 9AE, BL7 9AF, BL7 9AB, BL2 3EF, BL7 9BG, BL2 3DW, BL7 9BJ, BL7 9GB, BL7 9GE.

A spokesperson said: “This power cut has been caused by an unexpected incident on the high voltage cable that provides electricity to your home or business. 

“We didn’t know before your electricity went off that this was going to happen but now we know, rest assured we will get your power back on safely and as quickly as possible.

“Please be aware that all our timescales are estimated based on previous experience and may change if new information becomes available while our engineers are fixing the issue. 

“With high voltage power cuts, we’re often able to get many of the homes involved back on before our estimated time of restoration.”

A further 55 properties in Bromley Cross are out of power because of another “unexpected incident with the underground cable”.

ENW are preparing to send a team, but estimate these properties won’t have their power restored until 2.45am.

The following postcodes are affected by this cut: BL7 9JL, BL7 9JJ, BL7 9LS, BL7 9BQ, BL7 9BG.

A spokesperson said: “With underground power cuts, we may need to dig to repair the cable and this can sometimes extend the length of time you are without power.”

Four houses in Blackrod are also without supply because of an unexpected incident with the overhead cable, expected to be restored by half 10pm.

The two postcodes BL6 5RS and BL6 5JF are affected.

A different incident with the overhead cable providing power in Ramsbottom has also left six properties in the BL0 0PR postcode without supply.

ENW estimate these will have power restored by midnight.