A breakthrough brain cancer test can give patients a diagnosis in less than two hours – slashing the agonising wait for answers and allowing treatment to begin sooner.

The NHS is piloting the rapid genetic test, which can identify the exact type of tumour in hours rather than the weeks it can currently take.

NHS medical director Professor Frankie Swords hailed the technology as a ‘huge leap forward for patients’ that could ‘completely transform’ brain tumour diagnosis.

The cutting-edge test analyses the DNA of a small tumour sample taken during a biopsy or even surgery – meaning patients could get an answer while they are still on the operating table.

Crucially, the result could help surgeons decide how much of the tumour they can safely remove without damaging healthy brain tissue.

It could also mean chemotherapy or radiotherapy starts sooner and give patients faster access to clinical trials, some of which require the exact genetic make-up of a tumour before they can take part.

Around 13,000 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour in the UK each year. They are among the hardest cancers to treat, with just one in ten patients surviving more than five years.

This bleak outlook makes it the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40.  

There are more than 100 types of brain tumour, ranging from slow growing to aggressive, each of which respond differently to treatment.  

Professor Swords said: ‘For people with suspected brain tumours, getting the right diagnosis quickly can feel like a race against time, while waiting weeks for answers can be agonising for them and their families.

‘This remarkable rapid test has the potential to completely transform how we diagnose brain tumours, with results reaching patients in a matter of days rather than weeks.

‘This is a huge leap forward for patients – a faster diagnosis means they can start the right treatment or access clinical trials sooner, while for some patients it could mean surgeons can make potentially life-changing decisions about their surgery while on the operating table.’

Yvette Cooper, Health and Social Care Secretary, said: ‘This is an incredible breakthrough in the technology available to tackle brain tumours, providing vital genetic information to surgeons within a matter of hours or days, and helping them to provide the most effective treatment to patients faster than ever.

‘It is also a tribute to the UK’s world-leading life sciences sector – and our strength in genomics – that NHS patients are routinely among the first in the world to benefit from these kind of innovations.

‘Through the skill of our NHS staff, and the investment provided by our National Cancer Plan, we will transform the care provided to patients with brain tumours, and give every individual the best chance of successful treatment.’

The standard process for diagnosing brain tumours currently involves doing MRI and CT scans and then extracting a tumour sample which is taken away, tested, and examined under a microscope in a pathology lab, which can take weeks to definitively diagnose the type of tumour. 

The NHS England pilot builds on the successful pilot already under way in Nottingham and Birmingham and will initially take the technology into five specialist centres before expanding further across England.

The rapid genomic test was developed by scientists and medics at the University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

In a recent operation at Nottingham University Hospitals, a tumour sample was taken in theatre and tested in the same hospital during the operation.

The sequencing itself took around 20 minutes, with a result fed back to the surgical team less than two hours after the sample reached the laboratory – while surgery was still under way.

One patient already to have benefited is Steve Palmer, 55, from Nottingham, who was diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma after collapsing at the gym – despite suffering no previous symptoms.

His tumour was tested while surgeons were operating, with the sequencing itself taking around 20 minutes and an initial result fed back to the surgical team less than two hours after the sample reached the laboratory.

Mr Palmer told the BBC that getting the result so rapidly had spared him weeks of uncertainty.

‘Getting that quick diagnosis removed weeks of anxiety,’ he said.

‘It wasn’t the result I wanted to hear but it means I can get on with the next phase of treatment and recovery, and get on with fighting whatever it is I’ve got to fight.’

The first phase of the pilot will introduce the testing across University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Additional genomic laboratory sites in Bristol, Oxford, Leeds and Manchester will join in the second phase.

The Real Rooneys was released on Disney+ this week, giving a candid insight into one of the UK’s most famous families. 

Wayne and Coleen Rooney invited the cameras into their home for a year to document the highs and lows of their marriage, family life and work endeavours, with Coleen promising to show a side of themselves the public have never seen. 

And she certainly lived up to her promise, with viewers in shock at just how candid the pair were. 

Disney+ and Amazon had a bidding war for months to have the rights for the show, with Disney+ winning the race with the massive £10million fee.

Sources close to the project say Coleen will be paid £5million with the remainder going to production company Lorton Entertainment, which made her previous show, Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story.

So was it worth it? The Daily Mail reveals the most surprising moments from The Real Rooneys. 

Coleen and Wayne’s showdowns 

Coleen revealed she considered ‘separating’ from ‘careless’ husband Wayne on a number of occasions following a series of explosive rows on the series.

The former England footballer and the I’m A Celebrity star admitted they can go days without talking to each other. 

‘There are times when I think the answer to everything is to see what it’s like if we are separated,’ said Coleen candidly in a one-to-camera interview after a row with Wayne while on holiday. 

The confession came after Coleen and Wayne shared an insight into their marital tiffs in the series, when the footballer confessed: ‘We haven’t spoke for four days, this is the first time we’ve talked,’ as they sat on their sofa to speak to the cameras.

Coleen replied: ‘I’m hoping a break will help us to reconnect. A really nice weekend away for us to have some time together. That’s if I don’t kill him first.’

Throughout the series, Coleen continued to ask Wayne for more help around the house as she juggles work and motherhood. 

‘I really need Wayne to help a lot more around the house, which could cause a lot of arguments,’ she admitted. ‘Wayne is a good dad but he is a bit carefree and a bit careless. It does cause a few arguments.’ 

In another clip, Coleen broke down in tears as she told a friend on a walk: ‘I’m juggling a lot and the house is not happy, I keep trying to do it and it’s just not.’ 

Speaking about Coleen’s childhood, her mother Colette McLoughlin shared: ‘When she was three, Coleen got really sick and turned out it was encephalitis’ 

Colette shared: ”Her brain was swelling, she couldn’t talk, she couldn’t walk, she couldn’t speak, she was stumbling her words. When we got to  hospital she ended up in a coma…’

Wayne’s in touch with his emotions 

While one might expect a competitive sportsman to put on a macho front, Wayne revealed he’s in touch with his emotions. 

The former Manchester United star was asked if he would shed a tear if his eldest son Kai won a scholarship to the same club, following in his footsteps. 

Wayne then responded: ‘Probably. I cry at everything anyway. I’ve cried over some mad things, Coronation Street, X Factor, when Barry got pushed off the hill by Janine in EastEnders, I’m pretty sure I was crying.’

Coleen’s near-death moment 

Speaking about Coleen’s childhood, her mother Colette McLoughlin shared: ‘When she was three, Coleen got really sick and turned out it was encephalitis. 

‘Her brain was swelling, she couldn’t talk, she couldn’t walk, she couldn’t speak, she was stumbling her words. When we got to Alder Hey hospital she ended up in a coma…’

Choking back tears, Colette went on: ‘I’m gonna get upset… 24 hours [were] touch and go.

‘She had to learn to walk again, all her coordination had gone. But I’m so grateful because she was alive. We wanted to give something back.’ 

The Rooneys did not go into further detail about Coleen’s recovery, but encephalitis is treatable and often curable. Recovery depends heavily on the underlying cause, how fast treatment begins, and the severity of the infection.

Colette then revealed she and husband Tony provided foster and respite care for children with special needs and disabilities after being inspired to give back following Coleen’s near-death experience.

Despite admitting it’s a challenge raising sons Kai, 16, Klay, 13, Kit, ten, and Cass, eight, Wayne has insisted that he and Coleen will never a hire a nanny to help them out

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Wayne refuses to hire a nanny 

With Wayne having just been sacked as manager of Plymouth Argyle he explained: ‘I think Coleen going back to work is good for her, rather than just being here and looking after the kids and me as well.

‘And that’s coincided with me not having a 9-5 job so I’m here with the kids.’ 

As the camera cut to the three youngest boys running wild, Wayne sighed: ‘It’s tough. There’s chaos, fighting, arguing. Every day’s a challenge with them…  I’m chilled until I need to snap.’ 

Yet despite the chaos going on around them, Wayne explained that he refused to bring in any outside help. 

Wayne explained: ”People ask why don’t we have a nanny. “You can afford to have a nanny help you”, but they’re OUR kids. 

‘It’s tough for anyone who has four kids but you want to bring them up. You want to be around them. 

‘It’s tough but enjoyable. You have some great moments, great memories with the kids and I wouldn’t change it.’

Coleen loses her kids in their house 

During the series, the couple gave a detailed tour of their £20million palatial Cheshire home, dubbed The Morrisons Mansion, which they built from the ground up in 2022 upon 50 acres of farmland. 

Speaking about their family home, which they live in with sons Kai, 16, Klay, 13, Kit, ten, and Cass, eight, Coleen said: ‘This house is everything that I have dreamed of since I was a little girl.’

As a montage of the house’s many rooms flashed up, she continued: ‘You know when you’re a child and you draw a house, everything’s symmetrical. The door in the middle and the same both sides…’

She then chimed in: ‘It’s a massive house but there’s a lot of rooms within the house so I do lose my kids!

‘Even though it’s mine and Wayne’s dream home everything was planned around the four kids.’ 

Wayne added: ‘Since we built this house I’ve been away working so it’s great now I’ve got time at home with the kids. 

‘It’s still mad to me to this day where we’re living now to where we grew up. Me and Coleen, two kids from Croxteth. How are we living here?’

The couple gave a detailed tour of their £20million palatial Cheshire home, dubbed The Morrisons Mansion, with Coleen revealing it’s so big that she has lost her children inside 

Wayne’s a history buff 

While his critics often mocked him for being unintelligent, Wayne proved to be quite the wordsmith in The Real Rooneys. 

Eldest son Kai was quick to come to his defence after Wayne was praised for his punditry, questioning: ‘Why’s it surprising he’s a good pundit?’

Kai added: ‘He’s smarter than you think. He always just whips out some random facts about history or something and doesn’t start thinking about it.’ 

Coleen said of her husband’s intelligence: ‘Wayne was capable at school but didn’t try. He only had football on his mind. 

‘If Wayne put effort into his schoolwork he would’ve come away with results.’ 

Stream The Real Rooneys on Disney+ now. 

The onging summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping has been billed as a “high-stakes” meeting which the US president says will have a major focus on artificial intelligence (AI).

Trump told a gathering of world leaders at the US general assembly on Tuesday that, “whoever wins superintelligence wins … and we’re leading now over China by a lot”. Quite how this will help build rapport between the two leaders is anyone’s guess.

Leaving aside for now the US president’s decision to unilaterally rename (as is his wont) what everyone else calls artificial intelligence, there’s no doubt that what the world needs now is for Xi and Trump to do what they can to avoid an AI arms race.

Nicholas Wheeler and Marcus Holmes, whose research focus is on face-to-face diplomacy, believe the scale of this challenge recalls the summits between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s. At that stage it was nuclear proliferation which was scaring people on both sides of the cold war. Fresh in Soviet minds were the Nato exercises which gamed out a scenario in which the Soviet Union invaded eastern Europe, to which the response was a nuclear retaliation.

Meeting in Geneva in November 1985, the two leaders – Reagan the dyed-in-the-wool anti-communist and Gorbachev, the passionate Marxist-Leninist – somehow developed a rapport which fostered an effective working relationship. As Wheeler and Holmes recount, the pair were able to appreciate that both of their countries shared a very real fear of nuclear proliferation.

This understanding enabled them to collaborate on a series of nuclear deals which pulled the world back from the precipice. The hope is that Trump and Xi, arguably the world’s two most powerful men, can reach the same sort of understanding.

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Trump and Xi face an AI security dilemma – but face-to-face diplomacy could be a start in mitigating it

Power play

The word “arguably” was used deliberately in the previous paragraph. As the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, noted in his final keynote address in the general assembly this week, the nature of power – and the way it is wielded – is becoming increasingly fluid in the 21st century.

Not only is it shifting in a geopolitical sense, but also from nation states to private corporations – and, worryingly, from humans to machines. And this shifting power will have an enormous influence on the key challenges facing the world, from war to inequality to the climate emergency and artificial intelligence.

Stefan Wolff and Martin Waelisch, experts in international security, caution that the US president’s speech suggested that an understanding of power that appears limited to achieving narrow victories is more likely to exacerbate, rather than mitigate, these problems.

À lire aussi :
UN chief says world’s biggest problem is the changing way power is used – Donald Trump’s speech confirms his diagnosis

A new form of governance

To another international governance group – and in advance of the UK taking the chair of the G20 in December, we ask the question: is this another glorified talking shop which rarely achieves anything? Gordon Brown, who was prime minister when the UK last chaired the group would point to its response to the global financial crisis. But the question mark remains.

A lot of this is to do with the need for the group to reach consensus, meaning its decisions, communiqués and leaders’ declarations require agreement from all participating member states to be officially adopted.

This is entirely the wrong approach, writes Henrietta Moore, the founder and director of the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity. She and her colleagues have developed a new framework for global cooperation called The New Alignment. This calls for issues such as climate change, sovereign debt and technology to be tackled in a way that engages the key players that can make a difference.

Or as she puts it here: “Begin with the problem, and ask what outcome is needed. Then consider which countries, institutions, businesses and communities have the capabilities to deliver that desired outcome”. That way, while consensus remains valuable, it’s no longer a precondition for progress.

À lire aussi :
G20 needs a new approach to tackle the changing world order

Election special

Three election results to comment on, of which two could be accurately described as being shocks and one utterly predictable. Taking the latter first, it surprised nobody when in the elections for the Russian parliament, United Russia – the party of Vladimir Putin, won its usual landslide.

Business as usual then. But there was some features of the election campaign, which Putin billed as a referendum on the war in Ukraine, that bear further investigation, as Jennifer Mathers reports.

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No surprise as Putin’s party wins election billed as ‘referendum’ on war in Ukraine

Meanwhile two more German states held elections last weekend. In one, for the state of Berlin, the ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) were beaten into second place by the party on the left, Die Linke. In the other, for the rural eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, it failed to register sufficient support to merit winning a seat, attracting just 4.9% of the vote.

Here the big winner was the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), with 38.2% of the vote. This falls short of the outright majority it would need to form government writes Ed Turner of Aston University. But the results will pile yet more pressure on the already embattled German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, whose political survival now hangs in the balance.

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Two more election defeats pile pressure on German chancellor Friedrich Merz

The rise of the far-right has been a matter of some concern for anyone observing German politics in recent years. Since the end of the second world war, the fear of extremism in Germany has been such that the political system has operated a firewall, or Brandmauer, by which mainstream parties agree never to form a coalition which would help an extremist party – in recent years specifically the AfD – gain power.

Another attempted safety valve has been a ban on neo-Nazi symbols, violation of which carries stiff penalties of up to three years in prison.

But there’s no denying the rise in popularity of right-wing politics in recent years and supporters of various extremist movement have developed their own ways to self-identify which aim to circumvent this ban.

These can include wearing certain brands of clothes, displaying various Nordic runes or using coded emojis in online communication, write Tom Birkett, Felix Lummer and Timothy Liam Waters of University College Cork, whose study makes for fascinating reading.

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How the emojis and fashion choices of Germany’s far-right supporters get around the ban on Nazi symbolism

A paedophile who took thousands of pictures of women and girls and used AI to ‘nudify’ them was released on bail three times to his flat near a playground – forcing his victims to move out. 

Zafer Dogan, 32, took as many as 5,000 images involving so many victims that police have not been able to identify all of them.

The case has sparked criticism from Met commissioner Mark Rowley, who said ‘children should be put first, not the paedophile’ as he warned that ‘dangerous and prolific offenders’ are ‘routinely’ released on bail despite the risk they pose.

The predator used AI to digitally alter images by removing clothing from youngsters in school uniform and was able to photograph children ‘going about their daily business’ from a bedroom. 

He followed hundreds of women and children as young as seven, spending hours lurking in his car to secretly take pictures.

Dogan, who works as a mechanic, was jailed for two years and four months at Wood Green Crown Court yesterday having previously pleaded guilty to multiple image offences, including making indecent images of children.

The paedophile also preyed on children known to him, taking covert pictures which he later ‘nudified’ after collecting 1,800 indecent images online – including extreme pornographic material and bestiality. 

Three courts refused to remand Dogan into custody even after he had admitted nine offences relating to indecent images, extreme pornography and obstructing police.

As a result, his victims’ families had to flee their homes, taking their children out of schools, quitting their jobs and relocating to protect them from the paedophile who continued to seek contact.

In an unprecedented attack delivered outside his sentencing, Sir Mark described how public confidence in the justice system is under threat, saying it was ‘little surprise’ victims were deserting prosecutions in droves after seeing their attackers let loose.

The warning comes a week before 700 offenders are due to be set free from prisons in the first tranche of Labour’s early release scheme.

The court heard that Dogan was arrested on July 16 on suspicion of offences involving indecent images of children.

The defendant ‘freed himself’ from his handcuffs, ran away and discarded his mobile phone into a nearby garden. Dogan was stopped soon after and his device was seized.

Prosecutor Sarah Gabay said that investigators discovered ‘thousands of images of women and children which seem to have been taken without their consent or their knowledge’.

Ms Gabay said these individuals were ‘going about their daily business’ in the photographs, which included pictures of children on climbing frames.

According to the police, Dogan had taken more than 5,000 images, many of which were from his bedroom window which overlooked a playground.

The court was told that photos of 33 adult women and two children – aged seven and 13 – were ‘digitally altered’ using AI software to create sexualised content.

Dogan was arrested again on August 4 and the following day he was charged and remanded by police.

The defendant appeared at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court on August 6 and accepted all the charges against him.

According to the prosecutor, Dogan has ‘been on conditional bail throughout these proceedings’.

Dogan gave no comment interviews after both arrests, the court heard.

The court heard victim impact statements from the mothers of Dogan’s two child victims, who have been kept anonymous for legal reasons.

The mother of the 13-year-old victim described feeling as if she had been ‘punched in the gut’ when police officers told her what had happened.

She added: ‘I’m really worried that my daughter’s photos are online and other paedophiles have them.’

The mother of the seven-year-old victim described feeling ‘helpless’, adding: ‘Our lives will never be the same again and I can’t do anything about it all because one man exploited my child.’

Another parent said: ‘Our lives are turned upside down for ever. Yet no one protects us.’ 

Joseph Carr, mitigating, said the defendant ‘recognises the profound seriousness’ of his offending.

Mark Rowley said ‘children should be put first, not the paedophile’ as he warned that ‘dangerous and prolific offenders’ are ‘routinely’ released on bail despite the risk they pose

He said the defendant had separated from his long-term partner in 2025 and subsequently ‘spiralled into depression’.

The lawyer said Dogan ‘fell down the rabbit hole and was unable to find his way out’, but added that there is no excuse for his actions.

The judge described Dogan as a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ character during the hearing having read multiple character references, which Mr Carr said ‘speak to positive character’.

Dogan, of Enfield, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child which included 900 category C images, 294 category B images and 653 category A images – which are the most severe.

He also admitted possessing extreme pornography, possessing a prohibited image of a child, creating purported intimate images of an adult, obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty and a further two counts of making indecent photographs of a child.

The Met Police said that alongside the CPS, it had opposed Dogan’s bail on three occasions but their attempts were unsuccessful and the offender was allowed to return to his flat.

Detective Chief Inspector Brian Kelleher told the Press Association about the force’s ‘frustration’ at the court’s decision to repeatedly bail Dogan, who had used the AI software to ‘nudify’ images.

The detective said the ‘whole details’ of the case were raised in court, ‘including the fact that he was being bailed to effectively the area where he had been offending’.

Mr Kelleher said: ‘The matters at court … went through a series of challenges where the police and CPS opposed bail, opposed his being bailed back to the address, but the courts continued to bail him, and that went through a series of three or four different hearings.’

He went on: ‘There are certainly frustrations, especially where, like in this case, we identify an offender who’s moved beyond the normal pattern of slightly more passive collecting of material into producing it yourself, and when we then highlight the risk to the court to really try and challenge those systems to put someone into custody.’

Police Constable Natalie Scagliarini, who led the investigation, said: ‘This is a deeply distressing case. Dogan’s actions were predatory and dangerous. He targeted the most innocent of scenes – children playing or out walking with their parents – and manipulated the photos he took in the most sickening way.

‘The nature of his offending has understandably left those who have learned of it feeling unsettled and violated, not knowing when they might be being watched or photographed and for what purpose.’

Speaking outside Wood Green Crown Court, Sir Mark said: ‘The children should be put first, not the paedophile. 

Pressure to reduce the remand population has contributed to more dangerous and prolific offenders being granted bail routinely despite strong submissions from the police and CPS.

‘Victims are left fearful, communities are left feeling less safe and confidence in the justice system is undermined. This case is just another example of victims being let down.’

He said officers were ‘routinely’ seeing the consequences of ‘pressure’ on courts not to remand criminals due to prison overcrowding.

A Government spokesman said: ‘The law is clear that bail should only be used where necessary and proportionate, including to protect victims, witnesses and the public while investigations and court proceedings are ongoing.’

Conditions are set to turn “wet and windy” from early next week

As we’ve now passed the autumn equinox, the nights are officially getting longer and darker with the colder months on their way.

For the next few days over the weekend, the Met Office is forecasting a “mixed bag” of conditions across Northern Ireland, with a mix of dry spells, showers, and strong winds in the forecast.

A period of low pressure is set to push in early next week, with the weather forecaster expecting “wet and windy” conditions for many.

Here is what you can expect from the weather across Northern Ireland this weekend.

Friday Night:

Mainly dry with clear spells most widespread in the east, but a few scattered light showers appearing west and north of Lough Neagh. Southwest winds freshening overnight. Minimum temperature 11 C.

Saturday:

Most in east staying dry with best of the brighter spells appearing through the morning and towards the east coast. Scattered showers in the west, building during the afternoon. Maximum temperature 18 C.

Outlook for Sunday to Tuesday:

Unsettled for Sunday with strong winds, rain then showers. Most dry on Monday with showers generally confined to the far west. Tuesday turning wet and windy.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

The vehicle was clocked by officers on Mortfield Lane last night.

The two people inside were arrested and officers say a machete was also found in the car, and one of the men had a “large quantity” of class A drugs.

A police spokesman said:”Officers from the Bolton North Neighbourhood Team have been on patrol in the Halliwell area of Bolton when they sighted a vehicle on Mortfield Lane.

“The two occupants of the vehicle were detained and searched under S23 Misuse of Drugs Act. One male was found in to be in possession of a large quantity of Class A drugs and a machete was also located inside the vehicle.

“A 19-year-old male was arrested on suspicion of possession with Intent to supply Class A and possession of an offensive weapon.

“A 28-year-old male was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of Class A and possession of an offensive weapon.

“Both suspects remain in custody for questioning.”

The arrests are the latest in the fight against the drugs trade in Halliwell and across Bolton.

Previously, desperate mums have raised the issue at the regular Partners and Communities Together Meetings (PACT), which allow locals to meet their local police officers and address any concerns they have.

A women’s only PACT heard how children are targeted by those selling drugs.

The European Union (EU) has announced plans to ban social media for under-13s – a move welcomed by child safety campaigners.

The proposals were unveiled on Wednesday by Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission. 

“Many perceive the power of big tech as overwhelming and impossible to roll back. I disagree; we do not have to accept addictive social media designs. We do not have to accept children being drawn into ever more extreme content,” she said. “It is us who decide our rules, not tech companies.” 

The EU will deploy its own verification scheme and demand that app stores, not platforms, police the gates. Children aged 13 to 15 would only be able to access platforms for an hour a day via ‘mini accounts’ set up through a parent or guardian’s social media account. 

“Teens will find it much harder to circumvent these bans,” Patrick Grady, head of European tech at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, told Positive News. “The EU will succeed where Australia has so far failed.”

Not everyone is convinced by social media bans. Critics have raised concerns around privacy, warning that everyone will have to submit personal information to access platforms.

Many welcomed the move, however. “The days of tech exceptionalism and their systematic exploitation of children for profit are numbered,” said Leanda Barrington-Leach, executive director at campaign group 5Rights. 

Image: iStock

The episode made it clear how much worse Debbie Webster’s (played by Sue Devaney) dementia has become as she failed to recognise Toyah when coming across her in the street.

Viewers saw the segment from Debbie’s perspective, which switched Taylor for another actress, helping them understand how confusing dementia can be for the person suffering from it.

However, when the camera angle changed, fans then saw that the person speaking to Debbie had been Toyah, played by Georgia Taylor, the whole time, further illustrating the impacts of dementia.

debbie not recognising toyah and us seeing it from her pov with a random woman… so clever but heartbreaking :((( pic.twitter.com/EDIvHxTJPO

— dj (@sadlatimer) September 24, 2026

Fans have praised the ITV soap for its “clever” scene but didn’t fail to express how “heartbreaking” it was to see Debbie’s condition worsen.

One person on X said: “debbie not recognising toyah and us seeing it from her pov with a random woman… so clever but heartbreaking :(((”, sharing a video of the scene.

Sharing screenshots from the scene, another fan said: “#Corrie Such a clever but devastating scenes between Debbie and Toyah.

#Corrie Such a clever but devastating scenes between Debbie and Toyah. Seeing this from Debbie’s perspective is so shocking and heartbreaking. pic.twitter.com/szCktXhC7B

— joanne frankham (@frankham_joanne) September 24, 2026

“Seeing this from Debbie’s perspective is so shocking and heartbreaking.”

Someone else shared: “That scene with Debbie and “Toyah” was really clever.

“The different actress playing Toyah represented Debbie not recognising Toyah because of her dementia.

How many of these emotional Coronation Street storylines do you remember?

“Something to think about, it must be scary for a dementia sufferer. #Corrie.”

Another person said it was a “confusing” segment to watch but said they understood that it reflected how Debbie must feel.

Has Georgia Taylor left Coronation Street?

No, Georgia Taylor remains in the role as Toyah Battersby, but she was swapped out temporarily for Williams to portray the specific storyline involving Debbie Webster.

The appearance by Anya Williams is expected to be a short stint.

Which Corrie storyline has been the most powerful over the years? Tell us your favourites in the comments below.