Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith revealed she’s “not very steady” on her “pins” any more, and noted that this was a factor in why she called it a day on Bake Off
Matt Davies Trendswatch Reporter
15:30, 15 Mar 2026
Prue Leith has revealed the real reason behind her decision to step down from Bake Off as she admitted that one particular scene could have proved “humiliating beyond belief”. A culinary icon who has sat as judge on The Great British Bake Off since 2017, Prue announced last month that she would be stepping away from the programme after nine years.
At 86-years-old, Prue has enjoyed a career not only as a presenter, but also as a restaurateur, novelist, and cookery writer, and has said she wants “more time to do stuff”, noting that she’s “getting on a bit.”
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In a fresh admission about her age, Prue has acknowledged that she’s “not very steady” on her “pins” anymore. Indeed, she highlighted a particular scene on the Channel 4 programme that could have been “humiliating beyond belief” and how it might have resulted in disaster.
Speaking to The Shift podcast (March 10), Prue described how this realisation occurred when she and fellow Bake Off stars Paul Hollywood and Noel Fielding were asked to “dance round this field”.
Prue explained that the field in question was “very hummocky”, and, whilst her Bake Off colleagues were able to manage it, she feared going “A over T” or “a*se over t*t.”
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She said: “They wanted us to dance round this field. And it was a very hummocky, uneven field, which, of course, Noel could really leap over brilliantly and Paul perfectly good.
“But I suddenly realised, ‘I’m going to go A over T, you know, this is going to be humiliating beyond belief”. So I said, ‘I don’t want to do it’, and they understood – they were fine.
“And that was the first time I had to say, ‘I can’t do that’.”
This wouldn’t be the first instance of Prue alluding to this event in recent times; earlier this month, reports surfaced that Prue once “declined” a request from Bake Off bosses due to concerns about a certain “danger”.
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In her latest book, Being Old…and Learning to Love It! , she detailed how she was once asked to “dance in a rough and lumpy field”, suggesting that the aforementioned incident has remained with her.
She penned: “The danger of this old lady tripping and falling was far greater than the brief pleasure I’d get from whirling around with Noel (Fielding) or Paul (Hollywood), and I declined.
“But when, last year, we were filming the New Year’s episode, we had a steel band in the famous tent. Alison Hammond, exuberant as always, was the first up and dancing, and soon I couldn’t resist and joined her.
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“While writing this, I’ve not yet seen the resulting film and can only hope the editors have been kind and cut me out if I look the idiot I probably am. But the point is, even if they don’t, I really don’t care.”
Lauren James returned to haunt her former club, Manchester United, again as she spearheaded Chelsea to victory in the Women’s League Cup final.
James, who left United to join Chelsea in 2021, opened the scoring in the 19th minute before Aggie Beever-Jones netted the decisive strike in the second half.
James, who signed a new contract to keep her at Chelsea until 2030, has missed much of this season through injury but has been slowly returning to form.
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She was pivotal in England’s victory over Iceland last weekend and she was at the heart of everything Chelsea did in this final.
James put her hand to her ear after opening the scoring in front of United’s fans, who booed her for much of the game. A mistake at the back from United allowed the forward to score the game’s first goal – and her sixth against her former side in her last seven games.
Dominique Janssen mis-hit a back-pass to Phallon Tullis-Joyce and James stole possession before the forward sent a cool finish past the United goalkeeper.
United twice went close to equalising before half-time. Elisabeth Terland sent a shot against the crossbar before Ellen Wangerheim fired wide from close-range.
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Chelsea were without a number of players because of injuries while Ellie Carpenter and Sam Kerr are participating in the Asia Cup for Australia. It meant head coach Sonia Bompastor was forced to start a makeshift back-four, with Kadeisha Buchanan making her first start since returning from an ACL injury. Buchanan could only play 62 minutes before making way for Nathalie Bjorn, who had not played since December 2.
But Bjorn lasted just five minutes before being forced off with a calf injury, as the defender headed down the tunnel in tears. With three of Chelsea’s back four playing out of position, United should have been the team pressing for a goal. But Chelsea found a second goal in the 77th minute, as Beever-Jones poked home a cross from Johanna Rytting Kaneryd.
JERUSALEM (AP) — The brother of a man who attacked a Michigan synagogue last week, who was killed earlier this month in an Israeli airstrike, was a Hezbollah commander, Israel’s military claimed Sunday.
Ibrahim Ghazali was killed in Lebanon along with three other of the attacker’s relatives on March 5 — a week before authorities allege Ayman Mohamad Ghazali drove his car into a major synagogue outside Detroit and killed himself after security fired at him.
The FBI’s Detroit office, which is investigating the attack, declined to comment on the claims by Israel’s military about Ibrahim Ghazali.
“Out of respect for the ongoing investigation, we will continue to refrain from commenting on its substance,” FBI spokesman Jordan Hall said in an email Sunday.
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The AP was not immediately able to verify the claim that Ibrahim Ghazali was a militant.
The Israeli military alleges Ibrahim Ghazali was a Hezbollah commander who managed weapons for a unit that fired rockets at Israel.
A Lebanese official, who requested anonymity because he could not publicly discuss details of the airstrike, has confirmed Ibrahim Ghazali’s death, telling the AP that Ghazali’s children, Ali and Fatima, and brother, Kassim, were also killed in the strike that hit their home just after sunset.
Authorities have said that Ayman Ghazali, 41, carried out the synagogue attack after learning that four of his family members were killed in the Israeli strike.
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Israel has stepped up attacks on the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon as the war with Iran has spread violence across the Middle East.
On Thursday, Ayman Ghazali waited in his car outside Temple Israel, near Detroit, for about two hours with a rifle, commercial grade fireworks and jugs of liquid believed to be gasoline, before crashing into the building full of dozens of children, according to authorities.
He started firing his gun through the windshield, exchanging fire with an armed security guard. Ghazali fatally shot himself after he got stuck in his vehicle and the engine caught fire, said Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office. No staffers or children inside the synagogue were hurt, likely due to beefed up security in recent months.
The FBI, which is leading the investigation, described the attack on one of the nation’s largest Reform synagogues as an act of violence targeting the Jewish community, but said that they didn’t have enough evidence yet to call it an act of terror.
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Ghazali came to the U.S. in 2011 on an immediate relative visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen and was granted U.S. citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
He lived in a single-story brick home in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn Heights about 38 miles (61 kilometers) south of the synagogue.
The attack on the Michigan synagogue took place on the same day as a former Army National Guard member who served years in prison for attempting to aid the Islamic State opened fire on a classroom at Old Dominion University in Virginia, killing one person and wounding two others.
SPECIAL REPORT: The developer behind Farnworth Green said that the issues risk ‘squandering this once in a generation opportunity to make the centre of town fantastic’
A new housing development hailed as the catalyst of a town’s regeneration is being ‘terrorised’ by gangs of youths, residents say.
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Farnworth Green, a long-campaigned for redevelopment of the 1970s market precinct in the town centre, was completed in late 2024, following two years of construction. The 97 flats and town-houses built are fully let to residential tenants.
However, a Manchester Evening News investigation has found some residents are set to leave the development when their initial tenancy agreement ends.
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They say they are not going because of the build quality of the apartments, its location or rent levels, but purely due to feeling unsafe due to persistent anti-social behaviour from young people, often wearing balaclavas, gathering in the area and misbehaving.
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Residents have told of break-ins, attempted muggings and stones thrown at them, along with racial and sexual abuse directed at them in public areas.
One tenant said some were considering taking matters into their own hands and ‘it’s only a matter of time until one of us gets arrested’.
A recent incident saw the communal square between the two blocks vandalised, with a tree, plants and shrubs torn out and launched through open flat windows and onto balconies.
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Tim Heatley, the co-founder of Farnworth Green’s developer, Capital & Centric said the issues threaten to ‘squander this once in a generation opportunity’ to regenerate the town.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said a new team of officers was operating in the town centre and pledged to address the behaviour of the youths.
They encouraged those affected to report incidents so that resources could be diverted to the area.
Matt Jones, 26, has lived at Farnworth Green since July 2025. He said that due to the issues he and his partner would be moving out when their year long tenancy agreement ends.
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“Like many of the other residents, we’ve felt consistently terrorised by the anti-social behaviour here,” he said.
“Many of us are scared to leave our homes after 5pm because they all hang around outside the building and have broken in numerous times.”
In January Matt was the victim of an attempted phone robbery while on the public square at Farnworth Green.
He said: “I was walking towards Asda down Brackley Street and as I turned past the Coffee House two lads on bikes wearing balaclavas were approaching me from behind. “The first one rammed into my back, trying to knock me down, luckily he didn’t, and the second one went to swipe my phone out of my pocket.”
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On March 5, the town centre police team held a public meeting at Farnworth Green with tenants, other town centre residents and business owners.
One man shared his frustration with officers: “It’s eventually going to get to the point where one of us is going to get arrested,” he said.
“People are moving out, how much time do you need?”
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Around 30 minutes in, the meeting was briefly interrupted after young people on bikes were spotted at the windows of the Rivington suite, apparently filming those inside with phones. A police officer and a PCSO immediately went outside to speak to them.
One woman told the meeting: “It’s been 12 months of pretty much the same kids. “The other day we had an incident of criminal damage, they snapped a tree, flipped a bench over pulled a loads of plants out and chucked them through people’s open window and balconies.
“It’s the groups hanging around the area, it is anti-social – shouting, racial abuse, verbal abuse and throwing stones at people.”
Another woman, said: “As residents we feel very threatened. When you see a big group of boys, whether they do things or not it threatening.
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“As a person of colour I’ve been targeted with racial slurs and had stones thrown at me while walking. “We need to feel safe in out own flats, we have a right to that.
“At the moment it’s so threatening to even walk from our flats to Asda, which is a very short distance.”
Recent messages on a residents’ group reveal that other tenants intend to move out because of the issues.
One said: “We have called the police three times regarding this, nothing has been done. “The night we moved into our apartment one of them shot a firework right next to our puppy, absolutely terrified her, since then she’s been petrified of fireworks and bangs. “Unfortunately, we’ll be moving out in May.”
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Another, said: “I’ve been basically moved out for months – the kids are constant and the police are doing nothing. “I don’t feel safe and my car isn’t safe either.
“I hate that people in this development are becoming victims to these degenerate kids and I hate that I’ve wasted so much money on a place that is unsafe to live in.”
GMP have encouraged tenants encountering issues around the complex to report it to them. Farnworth community Sgt Emily Fogg said every incident from Farnworth Green would be reviewed and reports were never ‘lost in the system’.
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She added data would be used to divert police resources to where they are needed.
She said: “I know the data we have for this area does not reflect what’s actually happening here at all. “The reports we get are absolutely less than what you’re experiencing.
“If we get the repeat addresses where trouble is happening, repeat offenders, repeat victims, having that data from all the different lines of communication – then something has got to be done about it.
“Without that data it’s really difficult for us to campaign to senior leadership who have control of where resources are deployed. “That’s why engagement and reporting is important even if you you not get a cop coming to you.”
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She also stressed the importance of CCTV and phone video evidence of issues to identify offenders.
Farnworth town centre PCSO Dougie Tamuno said the police and community would have a fresh start in Farnworth.
He said “We need to move forward and learn, because now we’ve got new team. “If we know the names of the individuals, we can put that to the faces.
“A lot of them a all ballied up but we will try and identify them.”
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The police and community meeting explored sanctions and consequences if culprits are identified.
The discussion explored the work of the youth ASB pathway and the tools available to the police, including referrals, exclusion orders, warnings and bail conditions as the criminal element is progressed.
Attendees also heard about possible tenancy warnings to parents of culprits and working with schools and youth clubs.
Practical solutions were also discussed around investments in the town centre CCTV system and high street lighting and modernising communication channels between town centre businesses.
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Ollo, the management company who run Farnworth Green, said they were ‘doing everything we can’ to work with the police on the issues.
Ollo said employing private security guards at the complex could ‘create a cat and mouse situation’ as they do not have the powers of police.
A spokesman, added: “We are becoming increasingly frustrated about the ongoing issues with local youths, anti-social behaviour, criminal damage to our green, intimidation and verbal abuse.
“We need to push for a police presence and not have the attitude ‘there’s nothing we can do’. “Report every incident to the police – it takes five minutes to report an incident online.
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“If it’s not reported, it doesn’t exist in official records and the police need accurate data to understand the scale and severity of what’s happening.”
Tim Heatley is the co-founder of Capital & Centric, the developers behind Farnworth Green. He said: “We share the frustration at this. “It’s upsetting to hear these comments from tenants.
“We are aware of these issues and are deeply frustrated. “This development for Farnworth is a once in a generation investment.
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“The physical space we’ve created and the management team we’ve put in there are great, that’s the positive side.
“But I’m worried that of we don’t get this next bit right, the policing side of it, we’re going to squander this once in a generation opportunity to make the centre of Farnworth fantastic.”
Hospital staff have assisted those in their care to create gifts for their mums on mother’s day
Rob Currell Live news reporter
16:45, 15 Mar 2026Updated 16:50, 15 Mar 2026
Staff in the Ulster Hospital’s Children’s Unit have been busy preparing for Mother’s Day as they have helped their young patients create special arts, crafts and certificates for their Mums.
The Paediatric Team pulled out all the stops to ensure that Mums — who need to spend time in the Unit — will have their own memento to mark the day. South Eastern Trust Healthcare Play Specialist, Sharon Pauley explained how the arts and crafts were organised to ensure that families could still celebrate the special occasion together.
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She said: “We wanted to create activities that would bring a little joy to our patients and their families while they are here with us in the Unit. We created cards and certificates to let patient’s Mums know how special they are and that they are valued,” said Sharon.
Briefly, its accommodation comprises a spacious entrance hall off which is a cloakroom; a generous-sized lounge centred around a feature fireplace and flooded with natural light from a large bay window; a versatile second reception room which is currently used as a home office but which could easily be adapted to become a snug, playroom, dining area or creative space, and a utility room offering plenty of storage.
Kitchen/dining room: Open-plan kitchen and dining area with range cooker and Belfast sink. (Image: Bradley Hall)
The standout feature of the ground floor is the recently refitted open-plan kitchen and dining room, designed with both everyday living and entertaining in mind.
The kitchen is home to high-quality fittings, a Belfast sink nd a range of integrated appliances including a range cooker, with the dining area adjoining it but separated by a peninsular island.
The dining area is open to a bright and airy sunroom with a vaulted glazed ceiling and bifold doors that offer views over the rear garden.
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Bathroom: Family bathroom with contemporary fittings. (Image: Bradley Hall)
It’s the perfect place to unwind and enjoy a quiet cuppa, whatever the weather.
Upstairs are a modern family bathroom and four well-
proportioned bedrooms. These include the generous master bedroom complete with a contemporary en-suite shower room, and another bedroom currently used as a walk-in wardrobe, although it could easily be reinstated to its former use.
Master bedroom: Master bedroom with modern en-suite shower room (Image: Bradley Hall)
The property also benefits from a boarded loft with shelving which offers excellent additional storage space.
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The property’s enclosed south-east facing rear garden is a real highlight. Beautifully landscaped, it features a combination of lawn and paved patio areas making it ideal for outdoor dining, entertaining or simply relaxing in.
A private road leads to two private off-street parking spaces.
Master bedroom: Master bedroom with modern en-suite shower room (Image: Bradley Hall)
As Neil Simpson straddled a gate at the start of his slalom run on Sunday, it perhaps summed up just how tricky these Winter Paralympics have been for Great Britain.
At every edition in the interim, GB have won at least six medals, and with just over £7m ploughed into the sports on the Winter Paralympic programme over the past four years by UK Sport, questions can rightly be asked.
But the highs of previous Games were never expected to be achieved this time around.
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Owing to a mix of injuries and an inexperienced squad – 17 of the 25-strong ParalympicsGB team were making their debut – UK Sport had set a medal range of between two and five, although there will inevitably be discontent that even the lower end was not met.
“I think it’s impossible for us to be disappointed in any of these athletes, the journey that they’ve had to get here, the level of determination and resilience to make it to a Paralympic Games is truly worth celebrating,” said UK Sport director of performance Dr Kate Baker.
“I think in many respects, these Games just came a little bit too soon for some of our athletes, so we can be excited for what is to come.
“We’re in disciplines that we’ve not been in before, we are showing there is depth coming through and real potential for the future.”
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“Obviously we would have liked to see some other medal-winning performances,” added ParalympicsGB chef de mission Phil Smith. “There is lots to be positive about the Games overall.
“We know that winter sport is full of jeopardy. If you ran this week again, we could very much have been somewhere more in the middle of that target with just a little bit more luck and things turning out slightly differently.”
Gentoo Group has launched a public consultation on plans for 49 social and affordable homes south of Great Lime Road.
The proposals include a mix of two-bedroom bungalows alongside two, three, and four-bedroom houses on grassland located next to Eppleton Academy Primary School and Nursery.
Proposed site plan for 49 new affordable homes in Hetton-le-Hole. (Image: Gentoo Group)
Joanne Gordon, homes and development director at Gentoo Group, said: “There is a clear and growing need for high-quality, social and affordable homes in Sunderland, and developments like this are vital if the city is to meet Sunderland City Council’s target of delivering at least 13,410 new homes by 2033.
“At Gentoo, we believe everyone has the right to a good quality home they can afford.
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“These proposals would help meet local housing needs while creating a well-designed development that complements the existing community and supports strong, sustainable neighbourhoods.”
Proposed CGIs for 49 new affordable homes in Hetton-le-Hole. (Image: Gentoo Group)
Gentoo said the scheme has been carefully designed to integrate well with the existing neighbourhood and meet the housing needs of the area.
Residents living nearby, including the local school and nursery, have received a leaflet explaining the proposals and how to provide feedback, and a public consultation even will be held on Tuesday (March 17) from 2pm til 7pm at Eppleton Cricket Club on Church Road.
Members of the public will be able to review the proposals, speak to Gentoo’s project team, and share their comments in person.
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The public consultation will remain open until Tuesday, March 31.
Gentoo has said resident feedback will be considered before a planning application is submitted in summer.
Reality star Vicky Pattison becomes tearful in a trailer for her new E4 programme
Vicky Pattison is seen crying in a snippet from her new programme about starting a family.
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The reality TV star and her husband Ercan Ramadan – who shared their wedding journey in My Big Fat Geordie Wedding in 2024 – are returning to our screens with a new show that explores them contemplating starting a family and the various paths to parenthood.
E4 has now unveiled a preview for the show, titled Maybe Baby?, which sees Strictly star Vicky becoming tearful, reports Chronicle Live.
The teaser begins with the voiceover stating: “Vicky and Ercan got hitched, but now the most pressing question is…” It then cuts to the star asking Ercan: “Do you want kids?”
“It’s a big commitment,” he responds, whilst Vicky is shown lying in bed saying: “I don’t know if I’d be a good mum.”
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“Because everyone has an opinion,” the voiceover carries on. “You can do it all.”
“As a woman you are conditioned to really want kids,” Vicky remarks as she travels in a car, before she is seen wiping away tears.
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“So they’re asking those who know them best,” the narrator continues.
Vicky previously announced the show in an Instagram post, telling fans: “We’ll open our doors again and give you guys a glimpse into our chaotic little life… expect Labradors, laughs and most probably some tears!
“We’ll explore the different routes available to people wanting to have families, celebrate that women have more options than ever before and the fact that everybody’s journey is different and acknowledge that for some the path to motherhood isn’t linear.”
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The Strictly star stated that their aim was to “shine a light on surrogacy, adoption, egg freezing and the choice to remain childfree”.
She continued: “And hopefully as we have conversations about our next steps we’ll encourage others to do the same and also inspire people to foster some empathy and compassion for the less traditional roads to motherhood.”
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As media organizations go, NewsGuard cuts a low public profile as it follows its mission of issuing credibility ratings about news outlets. The Trump administration knows about it, though, and the company has joined a lengthening list of journalism organizations to face the White House’s wrath.
A dispute between President Donald Trump’s regulators and the news monitoring service has spilled into court, with NewsGuard Technologies suing the Federal Trade Commission and its chairman, Andrew Ferguson, to shut down an investigation. The FTC accuses the company of trying to suppress conservative speech. NewsGuard says it is being forced to kneel before vindictive power.
Since Trump returned to office in January 2025, the Republican administration has fought The Associated Press in court over the outlet’s claim it is being punished for not adopting his preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico; settled with CBS News’ corporate parent in a dispute over “60 Minutes” editing; sued The Wall Street Journal for its reporting on Trump and Jeffrey Epstein; and is in a legal fight with The New York Times over Pentagon reporting restrictions.
NewsGuard’s lawsuit, filed last month in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, accuses Trump’s FTC of “brazenly using its power not for any issue concerning trade or commerce but rather to censor speech simply because it disagreed with NewsGuard’s judgments about the reliability of news sources.”
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The FTC calls NewsGuard’s accusations “untethered from both law and fact.”
The FTC, normally low-key, is busier under Trump
Like the Federal Communications Commission under Brendan Carr, Ferguson’s FTC is a normally sleepy federal agency that has sprung to life to address issues of importance to Trump and his supporters, particularly involving the media. The FCC has launched investigations of media companies and this weekend Carr, responding to a Trump complaint about negative coverage of the Iran war, warned broadcasters “running hoaxes and news distortions” to correct course or see their licenses threatened.
Ferguson has made no secret about where he takes his cues. He said in an interview in July that “I am a law enforcer, and I will follow the law. But the policy priorities are set by the man the people chose to run this government.”
The liberal lobbying group Media Matters for America was one of his targets. A federal judge last summer halted an FTC investigation over efforts to promote advertising boycotts of companies the group opposes, saying the inquiry violated MMA’s free speech rights.
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While NewsGuard may not be a big name, money is at stake for news outlets friendly to the president. The company began in 2018, started by Court TV founder Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, a former Journal publisher. NewsGuard uses journalists to examine thousands of news outlets and websites, giving them ratings based on the credibility and reliability of their journalism.
A monthly subscription costs $4.95. Much of its business comes from companies that advise advertisers where to hawk their products, showing them which news sites may be toxic to their brands, and artificial intelligence companies looking to see where they would be more likely to find information they could trust.
Making a powerful enemy in Newsmax
NewsGuard made an enemy of the Trump-friendly television network Newsmax, giving its website a 20 on a scale where 100 is the best score. NewsGuard says “this website is unreliable because it severely violates basic journalism standards.” Newsmax has since repeatedly urged Republican lawmakers or regulators to do what they can to silence NewsGuard, the company said in its lawsuit.
“NewsGuard was started by Steve Brill to target conservative media and get ad agencies to deny them advertising revenue as a means of censorship,” Newsmax spokesman Bill Daddi said. “Brill is a Democratic Party activist and donor over many decades with a long history of advocating for liberal causes. He is not a respected journalist and in no way should be running a ratings service used by major ad agencies.”
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Brill said his only political activity was working for Republican John Lindsay, New York City’s mayor in the late 1960s and early 1970s, while a college and law school student. “I have been a journalist ever since,” Brill said, adding that he has not donated money to any politicians.
NewsGuard says its ratings are based on clearly defined criteria, such as whether or not an outlet publishes false or misleading material, whether it distorts arguments and uses multiple sources, whether it distinguishes between news and opinion and regularly corrects errors. To counter charges that it unfairly boosted liberals, the company noted times where Fox News scored higher in its ratings than the former MSNBC.
Yet the conservative Media Research Center has published studies contending that NewsGuard is more likely to give higher ratings to outlets with a liberal bent. In court papers, the FTC said it began investigating NewsGuard because congressional investigators connected the company’s services to “coordinated actions to demonize disfavored media entities.”
The agency has asked the company to produce reams of internal documents, emails, financial reports and subscriber lists dated to its founding. Not only does NewsGuard consider that task unduly expensive and burdensome, it worries that regulators will use that information to target its subscribers.
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The FTC, as a condition to approving a merger of two of the world’s biggest media buying firms, Omnicom and IPG, prohibited the new company from using a service that reviews and rates news sites. That is designed to eliminate the company’s ability to deny advertising based on politics, the agency said.
It has already cost NewsGuard business, the company asserts.
“The whole idea that any speaker has to justify to the government that it’s not biased is a really troubling thought,” Brill said in an interview. “We have a constitutional right to be biased. It just so happens that we started the company on the core principle that we were going to be totally apolitical.”
Continuing until NewsGuard ‘knuckles under’
The FTC’s press department did not return a message seeking comment. But in court papers, the agency said it was conducting a broad investigation into whether advertiser boycotts violated antitrust laws and that it has issued more than a dozen orders for information similar to the one given to NewsGuard. The company’s charges are “completely meritless,” the agency said.
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If its order was so demanding, the FTC wondered why it took NewsGuard eight months after it was issued to sue.
“We tried to cooperate in the belief that the more that we told them what we do, the more likely it would be that they would decide that they didn’t have any case,” Brill said. “We soon realized that they weren’t worried about the merits.”
The company argues that the FTC actions “will continue until NewsGuard knuckles under.” Asked if he thought the government agency’s goal was to put his company out of business, Brill declined to comment.
Manchester United signed Sesko last summer to solve their striker problems and replace Rasmus Hojlund, who was sent on loan to Napoli.
But the £64m summer signing endured an underwhelming start to life at Old Trafford, only scoring two goals in the first-half of the season.
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Sesko has gone to another level since Ruben Amorim’s sacking in January and his goal against Villa was his eighth in his last ten games.
Dalot, who is Manchester United’s second-longest serving player, has high hopes for Sesko and believes he can develop into one of the best strikers on the planet.
‘From the start we got along well,’ Dalot told DAZN when asked about his relationship with Sesko. ‘I felt a responsibility to help him understand the context he’s in.
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Benjamin Sesko scored in Man Utd’s win over Aston Villa (Picture: Getty)
‘If you combine the qualities he has off the pitch with the ones he has on it, I believe he will be one of the best strikers in the world.’
Manchester United’s victory over Aston Villa leaves Michael Carrick’s side with a three-point cushion in third and just seven points behind Manchester City.
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Analysing United’s win, ex-Premier League striker Dion Dublin said on BBC Radio 5 Live: ‘Manchester United, in the end, showed that quality and composure in the final third.
Michael Carrick after Man Utd’s win (Picture: Getty)
‘This 3-1 victory sounds and looks about right to me. Aston Villa are a little bit off it, and Manchester United are very much on it.’
Old Trafford legend Wayne Rooney added: ‘This was a very important victory for Manchester United.
‘The first half was a bit flat from both teams, and maybe they cancelled each other out, but then, in the second half, United played with more energy.
‘The main man for United again, Bruno Fernandes, was the difference.’
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Fernandes, meanwhile, felt the victory was ‘very important’ given it dealt a blow to a direct rival in Aston Villa.
‘It was very important because it was against a direct opponent,’ he said. ‘We had the same points, to gain this advantage from them is always good.
‘We knew we needed to win the game after the last game. Today we did the job. I still think we can do much better but the job is done.’
