1. Create a 10-15 minute buffer zone

2. Start the day with a warm shower or saline spray

3. Keep breakfast simple

4. Take a calmer approach to rushed mornings

When to keep your child off school

Listening to music or calls through headphones is no different than listening via a speaker.

That said, sound-induced hearing loss is the most common type of hearing loss.

So, what noise level is best?

You won’t notice hearing loss right away, but ringing in the ears and a feeling of fullness in the ears are signs that you should see a doctor.

Despite living with daily symptoms, the dad-of-two has progressed in his teaching career and fitness journey.

This is Rob Belt, a primary school teacher who has had two open heart surgeries and a stroke.

Rob was just 24 years old when he had a stroke almost a decade ago. Originally from Lincoln in the East Midlands, the now 33-year-old lives in Newry with his wife and two sons.

Rob – who was born with an atrial septal defect in his heart and had his first open heart surgery when he was 18 months old- was driving home from work in December 2017 when, unbeknownst to him, he experienced symptoms of a stroke.

READ MORE: GP’s 60th birthday challenge to help other doctors facing hardshipREAD MORE: ‘We’re honouring the memory of twin baby boys who will always be part of our family’

He said: “I had pulled over to go post a parcel, and as I leant across to grab the parcel, I was suddenly overwhelmed with dizziness, double vision, nausea and heat. I went to grab my phone to call my wife, but I couldn’t work my phone, so I had to use Siri to try and ring her.”

At home the P6 teacher said he has “never felt so unwell”, but, because it was so close to his two-week Christmas break, he was eager to go to work the next day.

“I was at work for about an hour, but every single light or screen was really bright, and my headache was just getting worse,” he said.

“I went to see my GP and they pretty much shipped me off to ambulatory care straight away. A CT scan revealed I had had a large stroke in the cerebellum region of my brain.”

Advertisement

Rob spent a week at hospital on the stroke ward with doctors discovering the patch that was fitted in his heart as a baby had lifted slightly, which they believe could have caused or contributed to the stroke.

He said: “They gave me an ultimatum of having surgery or being on medication for the rest of my life. I didn’t want to be on medication if I could help it, so they did a keyhole surgery the following December in 2018, which didn’t work so I had to have open heart surgery in March 2019, which was four months before my wedding!”

Since his stroke, Rob lives with various symptoms commonly associated with a brain injury, including balance and coordination difficulties, fatigue, and aphasia- a communication disorder where individuals can mix up or miss out words.

Rob said: “I really notice my aphasia in high-pressure or highly-stimulated situations, like in a job interview, where I’d just completely lose my train of thought. I also live with social anxiety and cognitive overload.

“I used to enjoy going out to pubs and restaurants, and then all of a sudden I got very anxious about being in a busy room, with all the sound intensity and different lighting.

“In the beginning of my recovery, going shopping around Tesco was basically like being in a theme park because there’s that many moving parts; you’re trying to negotiate aisles, step to one side out of the way of customers, find the items you’re looking for.”

Despite living with daily symptoms, Rob has progressed in his teaching career and fitness journey. Now he’s gearing up to run the London Marathon later this month to raise funds and awareness of brain injury.

Advertisement

Rob will put his best foot forward on April 26 as he raises funds and awareness of Headway – the brain injury association, a UK-wide charity that works to improve life after brain injury.

He said: “Nearly nine years on, I’m incredibly grateful to be able to run again – and grateful that Headway UK have given me the opportunity to run for them in the London Marathon.

“The support and aftercare that Headway UK provides to families is great – they have so many publications which can help the whole family understand how a survivor may be feeling, without the survivor having to explain it themselves, which can be overwhelming.

“Brain injury is often a hidden illness or disability. I think it’s so important to educate the public on how brain injury can affect people in different ways, and how people can have a brain injury and live ‘normally’, like I am, but there are elements of their daily life that it can affect.”

Eden Harlow, Fundraising Coordinator at Headway UK, said: “Rob has bravely shared his story to highlight the reality of living with a brain injury, and to show that brain injury can happen to anyone, at any age and at any time. His passion for raising awareness and advocating for survivors really is inspiring.

“We’re so grateful to him for taking on the London Marathon in aid of Headway UK, where his fundraising efforts will make a huge difference in supporting others facing life after brain injury.”

You can donate to Rob’s fundraiser here.

Want to see more of the stories you love from Belfast Live? Making us your preferred source on Google means you’ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Belfast Live as a preferred source, simply click here.

There are action films, and then there is Mad Max: Fury Road, a two-hour adrenaline rush that has built a reputation as one of the most electrifying cinematic experiences ever made.

Now, the film widely hailed as a modern masterpiece is newly available to stream on HBO Max, giving audiences another chance to witness the spectacle.

Directed by George Miller, the long-gestating fourth entry in the Mad Max saga finally roared into cinemas in 2015 after decades in development.

Set in a scorched, post-apocalyptic wasteland where water and petrol are the most valuable currencies, the story follows drifter Max Rockatansky, played by Tom Hardy, who is swept into an escape mission led by Imperator Furiosa, portrayed by Charlize Theron.

Together, they attempt to outrun a tyrannical warlord and his army in what becomes an extended, high-octane road battle.

The premise is deceptively simple, but Fury Road unfolds like a symphony of motion, built on practical effects, precision stunt work, and a striking visual language that makes even chaos feel meticulously controlled.

Critically, the film was met with near-universal acclaim. It became a rare blockbuster that satisfied both audiences and awards bodies, earning 10 Academy Award nominations and winning six, including Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing.

It was also named Best Film by the National Board of Review that year, cementing its status beyond the action genre.

Commercially, it was also victorious, pulling in over 380 million dollars worldwide and becoming the highest-grossing entry in the franchise.

In 2025, Collider went as far as to declare it the best action movie of all time, praising its balance of practical effects and CGI, as well as its breathless pacing and clarity of vision.

Audience reactions have echoed that enthusiasm.

Viewers have described it as an unforgettable experience, with one on Rotten Tomatoes calling it ‘one of the most spectacular movie experiences I’ve had in a while’ and another labelling it ‘a perfect movie’ despite being ‘one giant car chase’.

Many singled out Theron’s commanding performance, while others praised its immersive world-building and memorable costumes.

A prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, arrived in 2024 with Miller returning to expand the mythology, but Fury Road remains the defining achievement of the series.

Now that it is streaming again, the debate over whether it truly is the greatest action movie of all time is likely to reignite.

Stream Mad Max: Fury Road on HBO Max now.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

MORE: Euphoria fans horrified over Sydney Sweeney scene showing ‘cable around neck’

MORE: Lena Dunham calls Adam Driver a ‘half-man, half-beast’ who had violent episodes

MORE: Euphoria star reveals why she quit controversial show after feeling ‘diminished’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Resignations came quickly this week from two congressmen accused of sexual misconduct toward staff members. Yet for many of the women of Capitol Hill, the moment of accountability was years in the making — and far from enough.

Reps. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, and Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, both announced within hours of each other Monday that they were leaving Congress. Their decisions came the day before the House returned to Washington and as both faced the prospect of being expelled from the chamber by their colleagues.

It was a reckoning of sorts for Capitol Hill, the most striking since the careers of roughly a dozen male politicians were toppled during the heights of the #MeToo movement. Yet some congresswomen said that the pair of resignations took too long and proved what they’ve long been saying: that more must be done to rid Capitol Hill of sexual predation.

“Today was an important turning point,” said Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. “That it should — that abuse of power — should never be accepted, and above all, in public office. And so, I think this is an important resetting point for the institution.”

A bipartisan group of congresswomen had threatened on Tuesday to file resolutions that could have forced votes on expelling Swalwell and Gonzales. Their moves forced the two men to act and came swiftly after the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN had reported Friday that a woman said Swalwell sexually assaulted her.

The initial allegations against Swalwell date back to 2019 and 2024; they were followed with other allegations of inappropriate behavior made by other women. Swalwell has denied engaging in any sexual misconduct but acknowledged mistakes in judgment. Gonzales for months had resisted calls for his resignation after he admitted to a 2024 affair with a staff member who later committed suicide.

“Accountability can happen. We can hold men accountable when they abuse women, and we’re going to do more of it,” said Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, who chairs the Democratic Women’s Caucus.

House rules forbid relationships with staff

It is against the House Code of Conduct for any member to have a sexual relationship with their staff members.

Following the #MeToo movement, the House changed its rules to require annual trainings on sexual harassment and discrimination for members. The House also approved legislation to speed the slow-moving process for harassment complaints, require more disclosure of settlements and force lawmakers to personally pay any penalties they’re required to make.

Former Rep. Jackie Speier, a California Democrat who led the movement for reforms around sexual assault, told The Associated Press that problems still persist after those reforms.

“What we do in Congress is basically look the other way,” she said, adding that she was calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries to “really tighten the rules and create a safe environment for these women to report.”

While Johnson said he did not talk with the lawmakers before they announced their resignations, he told reporters that the episode had played out “appropriately.”

“This is the right thing for the institution,” he said.

How the push for accountability has grown

Sexual abuse has been top of mind for lawmakers as they investigate the actions of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. A handful of Republican women, mostly hailing from the right wing of their party, played crucial roles in forcing Congress to take up the issue.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, alongside Rep. Lauren Boebert and then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, rebuffed pressure from President Donald Trump and Johnson last year as they joined with Democrats and forced a vote on a bill mandating the release of many of the case files on Epstein.

Mace, who in 2019 shared her own account of surviving rape, has continued an outspoken campaign advocating for victims of sexual assault. She and Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna had repeatedly called for Swalwell and Gonzales to resign.

Mace has also extended that demand to Republican Rep. Cory Mills, who is facing an ethics investigation on allegations of sexual misconduct and violence against an ex-girlfriend. Mills has said he will disprove the allegations.

Meanwhile, Mace and Luna are also calling for the resignation of Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Florida Democrat. The House Ethics Committee found evidence that she broke campaign finance law related to a mistaken overpayment of $5 million from the state of Florida to her family’s health care business. She has said she did nothing wrong.

“Clean house. Expel them. Hold every last one accountable,” Mace said on social media. “The American people are watching.”

At the same time, Mace herself is under investigation by the ethics panel for allegations she improperly claimed housing reimbursements. She has denied wrongdoing.

Swalwell allies are facing close scrutiny

As accusations of sexual abuse continued to land against Swalwell, some Democrats found themselves in a moment of reflection and contrition, especially those who kept close company with him.

Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, a close friend of Swalwell’s who chaired his presidential campaign, called reporters to his office on Tuesday for an emotional press conference.

“I messed up. I’m human. I trusted this man,” a teary-eyed Gallego said.

Under intense questioning from reporters, Gallego acknowledged that he had heard rumors about Swalwell being “flirty,” but contended that he trusted him as a close family friend.

“I definitely look at the world in a different way now,” Gallego said. “I personally am going to make sure that I’m going to take personal steps and office steps to make sure that we don’t even get close to a gray line.”

Policing behavior in Congress presents challenges

Speier, who entered politics by first working as a congressional aide and experienced harassment from a supervisor, said that part of the problem in Congress is that members are given wide latitude to run their offices. All 535 lawmakers are bosses of their own hand-selected staff.

“There’s really no one overseeing you,” Speier said. “There’s a sense of entitlement that kind of overtakes many of these members.”

Speier, alongside then-Rep. Bradley Byrne, led the effort to pass legislation to make it easier to report sexual harassment and discrimination, including banning nondisclosure agreements to protect members of Congress.

Since the 2018 reforms began requiring the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to report awards and settlements related to formal complaints, there have been eight payments made by House members’ offices, totaling just over $400,000. Those payments cover all types of violations of workplace rights, not just sexual harassment, and the violations could have been committed by other congressional staff in the office.

Speier said that it was crucial to keep making it easier for survivors to report sexual abuse.

“Unless someone comes forward, you know the conduct continues,” she said.

___

Associated Press Chief Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Hopes rose for renewed talks between the United States and Iran on Wednesday, as the U.S. military said its blockade of Iranian ports was in full effect and Tehran threatened to retaliate by strike targets across the war-weary region.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that a second round of talks could happen “over the next two days,” telling the New York Post the negotiations could be held again in Islamabad as diplomats worked through back channels to arrange them.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres concurred, saying it’s “highly probable” that talks will restart. He cited a meeting he had with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.

Oil prices fell on hopes for an end to fighting, and in the U.S. stocks surged close to records set in January. The war, now in its seventh week, has jolted markets and rattled the global economy as shipping has been cut off and airstrikes have torn through military and civilian infrastructure across the region.

Meanwhile in Washington, the first direct talks in decades between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the U.S. concluded on a productive note Tuesday, according to the U.S. State Department.

Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said the two countries are “on the same side of the equation” in “liberating Lebanon” from the militant Hezbollah group. Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad called the meeting “constructive” but urged an end to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Since March, that war has displaced more than 1 million people in Lebanon.

Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948, and Lebanon remains deeply divided over diplomatic engagement with Israel.

First round of talks with Iran failed to end conflict

Last weekend in Pakistan, an initial round of talks aimed at permanently ending the U.S.-Iran conflict failed to produce an agreement. The White House said Iran’s nuclear ambitions were a central sticking point.

“I think they want to make a deal very badly,” Trump said in an excerpt from an interview with Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” scheduled to air Wednesday morning. He added: “I view it as very close to over.”

A U.S. official said Tuesday that fresh talks with Iran were still under discussion and that nothing has been scheduled. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive negotiations.

Muhammad Aurangzeb, Pakistan’s finance minister, told The Associated Press that “our leadership is not giving up” on efforts to help the U.S. and Iran end the conflict.

Though the ceasefire appeared to hold, the showdown over the strategic Strait of Hormuz risked reigniting hostilities and deepening the regional war’s economic fallout.

The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,100 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.

The blockade is intended to pressure Iran, which has exported millions of barrels of oil, mostly to Asia, since the war began Feb. 28. Much of it has likely been carried by so-called dark transits that evade sanctions and oversight, providing cash that’s been vital to keeping Iran running.

Tankers approaching the strait Monday turned around shortly after the blockade took effect, though one reversed course again and transited the waterway.

Since the war began, Iran has curtailed maritime traffic, with most commercial vessels avoiding the waterway. Tehran’s effective closure of the strait, through which a fifth of global oil transits in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing, pushing up the cost of gasoline, food and other basic goods far beyond the Middle East.

___

Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Matthew Lee, Fatima Hussein, Collin Binkley, Chris Rugaber, Will Weissert and Konstantin Toporin in Washington; Sylvie Corbet in Paris; Toqa Ezzidin in Cairo; Natalie Melzer in Jerusalem; Edith Lederer and Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations, and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.

New research suggests that relic black holes from before the big bang may still shape galaxies today. These black holes could explain dark matter, one of the biggest unsolved questions in cosmology.

Generally speaking, black holes are regions of spacetime where matter is compressed into a tiny space. Dark matter, meanwhile, is matter that does not reflect or absorb light. We know it exists because of its gravitational influence on galaxies and other cosmic structures.

It can be viewed as the “glue” that holds galaxies together, but we do not know what it is made of at a fundamental level. Most physicists think dark matter is composed of an as-yet-undiscovered sub-atomic particle.

But ancient black holes from before the big bang also fit the bill. They are dark, but also carry mass – exactly the properties required.

I have explored this idea in a new paper. Of course, the idea of relic black holes also requires a re-think of the big bang itself.

For nearly a century, cosmologists traced the history of the universe back to this single, dramatic moment. But maybe this wasn’t the absolute beginning of time. Perhaps there was a universe before the big bang.

Under this scenario, the universe collapsed before undergoing an expansion. The big bang represents the transition between the two phases.

The big bang model has been remarkably successful. It explains the cosmic microwave background – the afterglow of the early universe – and predicts the large scale distribution of galaxies with astonishing accuracy.

But in Einstein’s theory of general relativity, it is also a singularity – a point where density becomes infinite and the known laws of physics break down.

Many physicists interpret this not as a physical reality, but as a sign that something is missing. Singularities are less like physical objects and more like mathematical warnings: they tell us that our current theories cannot describe the earliest moments of the universe.

A bounce, not a bang

One alternative is a bouncing cosmology. In this picture, the universe undergoes a phase of contraction before the big bang, reaching an extremely high – but finite – density. Instead of collapsing into a singularity, it rebounds, beginning a new expanding phase.

Bouncing models have been explored for decades, often requiring modifications to gravity or exotic new ingredients. But our work shows that a bounce can arise as a regular solution within standard physics, when gravity and the effects of quantum mechanics – the laws governing nature at the tiniest scales – are consistently taken into account.

In standard cosmology, the big bang is quickly followed by a period where the early universe undergoes a period of rapid and exponential expansion. This stage, known as inflation, effectively erases all traces of earlier structures.

The situation is different for a bouncing universe. In our work, we found that things larger than 90 metres could have survived the transition from collapse to expansion. This leaves behind “relics” that carry information from a previous cosmic epoch. These relics can include black holes, gravitational waves and density fluctuations.

Quantum physics contains a powerful clue to how this is possible. According to the Pauli exclusion principle – a cornerstone of quantum theory – matter becomes “degenerate” at extremely high densities. The matter generates a pressure that resists further compression even in the absence of heat.

In our model, a similar effect operates on cosmological scales. It may explain why the universe doesn’t collapse completely – and why structures formed before or during the bounce can survive into the expanding phase.

Surviving the apocalypse

We identify two main routes through which relic black holes can arise.

The first one is direct survival. Compact objects and perturbations (fluctuations in density or gravity) generated during the collapse phase of the universe can persist through the bounce.

The second route is even more intriguing. During contraction, matter naturally clumps under gravity, forming structures similar to the halos that host galaxies today. After the bounce, they are able to collapse efficiently into black holes.

Galaxies and stars from the contraction phase effectively collapse into black holes, erasing most of their detailed structure but preserving their mass.

Could these black holes be dark matter? For decades, the leading candidate has been a fundamental particle — but none has been detected despite extensive searches.

Relic black holes offer a compelling alternative. If the bounce produces enough of them, they could make up a significant — perhaps dominant — fraction of dark matter.

This idea may also connect to one of the most intriguing observational puzzles of recent years.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed a population of compact, extremely red objects in the early universe, sometimes called “little red dots”. These astronomical sources appear to be unexpectedly massive and luminous only a few hundred million years after the big bang.

Many astronomers suspect they are associated with rapidly growing black holes – perhaps the seeds of the supermassive black holes found at the centres of galaxies today. But their existence is difficult to explain within standard cosmology. How could such massive objects form so quickly?

Relic black holes provide a natural explanation. If massive seeds already existed immediately after the bounce, the early universe would not need to start from scratch. Supermassive black holes could grow from ancient survivors rather than newly formed objects.

In this sense, JWST may already be glimpsing the descendants of pre-bounce relics.

A new cosmological framework

Taken together, the bounce scenario offers a unified way to address several long-standing problems in cosmology.

• The big bang singularity is replaced by a quantum transition. This transition could be related to the concept of the “Einstein–Rosen bridge”: a mathematical link between two disparate regions of spacetime.
• Inflation emerges naturally from the dynamics near the bounce.
• Dark energy can be related to the global structure of a finite universe.
• Dark matter may be composed of relic black holes —perhaps our own universe started as one.
• Gravitational waves could carry signals from a previous cosmic phase.
• Supermassive black holes may have ancient origins consistent with recent JWST observations.

Much work remains to be done. These ideas must be tested against data – from gravitational-wave backgrounds to galaxy surveys and precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background.

But the possibility is profound: the universe may not have begun once, but may have rebounded. And the dark structures shaping galaxies today could be relics from a time before the big bang.

Saturday Night Live UK has announced its next hosts ahead of the sketch show’s return from a mid-season hiatus.

Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan will present the series on 25 April, with musical guests Foo Fighters, while Aimee Lou Wood, best known for her roles in Sex Education and The White Lotus, will host on 2 May. She’ll be joined by the singer Meek.

Since the launch of SNL UK on Sky last month, Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Riz Ahmed and Jack Whitehall have fronted the comedy series.

The show is taking a break this weekend, and Coughlan will present on its return, after she made a brief appearance in the show’s debut episode.

Musical guests so far have included Wet Leg, Wolf Alice, Kasabian and Jorja Smith.

The sketch show has been received warmly by viewers. However, ratings have dropped from 226,000 for the launch to 130,100 in recent episodes, which exceeds the average viewership for Sky One in the time slot.

Wood’s appearance on the show follows a controversy involving the US version of the show, which offered the actor a rare apology after making fun of her appearance in a 2025 episode.

The SNL skit based on Wood’s The White Lotus character saw SNL cast member Sarah Sherman wearing exaggerated prosthetic teeth in an attempt to parody Wood’s appearance. She called the skit “unfunny and mean” on Instagram, saying she “hated the concept”.

“I actually love being taken the p*** out of when it’s clever and in good spirits,” Wood wrote. “But the joke was about fluoride. I have big gap teeth not bad teeth. I don’t mind caricature – I understand that’s what SNL is. But the rest of the skit was punching up and I/Chelsea was the only one punched down on.”

Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day

New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.

Try for free

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day

Advertisement

New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.

Try for free

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

Last week, comedian and actor Nick Mohammed said the show was “the best thing that’s happened to British comedy since” Ricky Gervais’s sitcom The Office premiered in 2001.

He told The Independent: “I honestly believe that. To be cynical about it, it’s a shame that it’s taken Americans to come in with a format and say, ‘Just do it like that.’ When I was starting out, there were so many production companies and channels wanting to emulate Saturday Night Live, and not having the guts to do it. But I think they’ve nailed it.

“I watched the first episode, and was literally emotional at the end when they all came out. If it was maybe 10 years ago, I would have killed for it.”

Reviewing the first episode, The Independent’s Nick Hilton wrote: “While SNL represents the quintessence of the American comedic establishment, it is not a title that has much Clapham omnibus cut-through here in Britain. It’s a bit of a shame, then, that the show plays it so safe with the formula, importing a commodity that has evolved from an anti-establishment brawl to a slick launchpad for franchise comedians.

“[Lorne] Michaels (producing from afar), director Liz Clare and head writer Jonno Johnson have done a good job putting together an intriguing panoply of talents, and they deserve credit for resisting the lure of bigger names who might’ve been tempted by a short run.”

He continued: “But they don’t invest in much of a shake-up to the formula – host’s monologue, timely skits, fake adverts, musical guests, and all that jazz – which means SNL UK lacks its own spark of irreverence. At best it shows what it’s learnt from a half-century of its New York cousin; at worst it seems like tepid cosplay.”

Residents have spoken out about an issue.

People in Stockport have spoken about ‘chaos’ on their road after the council brought in new charges at a free car park. Bramley Close car park, next to Bramhall railway station, used to be free but since January 8 Stockport council has enforced new charges for drivers to park there.

The fees were brought in as part of the council’s budget in the face of having to make major cuts each year to balance the books.

Charges at Bramley Close start from 50p for an hour up to £2.40 for 10 hours, with charges applied between Monday to Saturday from 8am to 6pm.

Click here to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter

But people living on nearby Bramley Road said more commuters have started parking on their street since the car parking charges came in, adding to congestion.

The road has double yellow lines along one side leaving cars parked together on the other side, and has a large bend in the road, limiting visibility.

It also acts as a cut-through to get across the village, and residents said there are regular problems with speeding. The extra cars parking on the road have added to the issues, locals said, effectively turning the road into a single lane and forcing cars to mount pavements to get past each other.

People living on Bramley Road said cars are being left in the morning from as early as ‘7.30am’ and not moved until 6pm in the evening. Christine Proctor, 85, said: “It’s terrible and very dangerous here. When I’m reversing out of my driveway people come really fast around the bend, you’ve got to be watching.

“I think there are probably more cars now because of the new parking charges at Bramley Close. There’s someone who parks here from seven in the morning until six at night, it makes it hard for people to get a place to park.”

Christine said cars are regularly driving down the road in search of a spot to park, with some drivers speeding. She added: “Someone’s going to get hurt here because of this, and then they’ll do something about it.”

Another resident, 58-year-old Cheryl, is also a long-term resident on the road and said it can be ‘chaos’ at busy times when several cars are trying to pass and all the parking spots are taken.

Advertisement

Cheryl also explained that the extra cars parked on the road has made it harder for visitors to park nearby. She added: “If they suspended the parking charges at Bramley Close I think it would definitely help.

“This has added stress to our lives, we’re worrying about it, I open the blinds every day and just think ‘oh God’.” Conservative councillor Peter Crossen has urged Lib Dem-led Stockport council to suspend the charges at Bramley Close car park.

He said: “Residents have been warning for years that parking and speeding along Bramley Road is dangerous.

“Introducing charges at the railway station car park has simply displaced even more vehicles into surrounding streets such as Bramley Road and made an already unsafe situation worse.

Get MEN Premium now for just £1 HERE – or get involved in our WhatsApp group by clicking HERE

“The car park is now underused, while residents are facing increased congestion, blocked driveways and real fears about road safety.

“I back residents’ calls for urgent and immediate action and call on the council to urgently suspend these charges and put proper traffic and parking controls in place before someone is seriously hurt.”

Lib Dem councillor Grace Baynham, Stockport council’s cabinet member with responsibilities including parking, said: “All our council car parks cost money to run, and after successive years of underfunding of local authorities across the country by the Conservative government, it is now harder to subsidise these services using council tax.

“Many councils across the country have had no choice but to introduce extra parking charges to set a balanced budget, which they are required to do every year, and Stockport is no exception.

“With projected savings of £75m needing to be made in the next few years, the situation isn’t going to get any easier.

“The fees have been kept relatively low (50p for the first hour) but this is not a decision we have taken lightly.

“It is a decision that has been through consultation, scrutiny and was approved at full council. The offer is there, for local councillors to work with council officers, to mitigate the impacts of any increases to on-street parking.”

The comedian made the surprise admission during an appearance on The One Show alongside Tyler West and Roman Kemp, former Celebrity Race Across The World stars.

Advertisement

A BBC icon has revealed a surprising connection to Race Across The World.

Paul Merton disclosed the moment he was unwittingly caught up in the filming of Race Across The World during an appearance on The One Show today.

The comedian joined Strictly Come Dancing star Tyler West and EastEnders’ Vicki Fowler actress Alice Haig on the sofa, alongside presenters Alex Jones and Roman Kemp.

Tyler, who has taken over from Scott Mills on a new Race Across The World podcast, had been discussing this year’s series after taking part in the celebrity version alongside his partner Molly Rainsford, while Roman participated with his sister Harleymoon.

The much-loved BBC competition is now in its sixth season, with five daring teams setting off on the adventure of a lifetime.

Advertisement

READ MORE: Derry Girls fans ‘so excited’ as Nicola Coughlan lands major presenting roleREAD MORE: Tyson Fury’s tragic family loss as boxer faces health issue in Netflix series

They’re covering more than 12,000km across Italy, Greece, Turkiye, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, trekking from Palermo on the island of Sicily all the way to the remote village of Hatgal on the shores of lake Hövsgöl, in northern Mongolia, reports the Mirror.

With no smartphones, internet access, bank cards and only £26 per person a day, they’ll be tested to their absolute limits in pursuit of the £20,000 prize.

Race Across The World first launched back in 2019, when comedian Paul unknowingly played a part.

Tyler had been speaking about the locals accommodating the contestants on Race Across The World this year, strangers who are offering assistance and free lifts.

Roman then chimed in: “It’s funny you say that, because actually, Paul you know all about the good deeds that people can do and the moments that happen in Race Across The World.”

The BBC programme subsequently broadcast a clip of Paul’s involvement in Race Across The World during the filming of the first series, when two contestants were in Ashford.

He recalled: “This is before the programme went out, two people came running up to me very excitedly and said, ‘We’ve got to get to Paris’.”

He had questioned what they were doing, having spotted the camera crew, but was left puzzled by their response of ‘Racing Across The World’.

Paul admitted: “I had no idea! The programme hadn’t gone out at that point. If I’d known, my cab driver was there, we could have taken them to Dover, and I could’ve been in the whole show! I could’ve ended up in Cairo.”

When Alex jokingly suggested he could’ve taken part in the celebrity version, Paul hinted: “Exactly.”

Elsewhere, reflecting on their experience on the star-studded edition of Race Across The World, Roman disclosed that it took “a lot longer than people think”.

After Tyler quipped that Roman was “the tightest man he’d ever met”, recalling how the former Capital Breakfast radio presenter had been reluctant to dip into their budgeted allowance while filming, Roman added: “You’re constantly worrying about where you’re going to spend money, Tyler and Molly they were in the nightclubs!”

Advertisement

Tyler replied: “We ate the most amount of food on Race Across The World history!”

Discussing this year’s cast, he continued: “Jo and Kush have captured the nation’s hearts, these Scouse lads, their banter that they have on this journey is so funny, and so relatable, and so many young people can look up to them as well.

“You’ve got Mark and Margo who have come together, this incredible story of in-laws who have come together, you’ve also got Puja and Roshni who are so switched on, and if I could have been that switched on I might have beaten you!

“All the pairs and all the dynamics coming together, it’s what makes the show what it is, it’s an incredible race, you can relate to so many characters as you learn their stories and as the journey unfolds.”

The One Show airs weekdays from 7pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

Race Across The World airs Thursdays at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.