Styling itself a sanctuary for those who ‘have plenty to say but nothing to prove’, it’s found favour with everyone from Angelina Jolie to Noel Gallagher – as well as Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their mother, Fergie.

But the doors at the most sumptuous of Mayfair’s new ‘super-luxury’ clubs, Maison Estelle, were slammed shut yesterday – at the insistence of the Metropolitan Police.

Alerting members, who pay an annual £4,250 subscription, the club says that the closure results from ‘a serious public safety matter’, explaining that it will remain closed for ‘a few weeks’.

Only days ago, Kim Kardashian, resplendent in a crystal-strewn crop top and a skirt that flared into a mermaid hem, had dinner at Maison Estelle with friends.

The club’s founders, hospitality entrepreneur Sharan Pasricha and his wife, Eiesha Mittal, daughter of billionaire Sunil Mittal, do everything they can ensure that members can relax, offering them three restaurants, ten bars and a nightclub, all contained within the handsome 1772 townhouse. But perhaps Maison Estelle has been allowing its patrons to let off a little too much steam.

I can disclose that yesterday, at a meeting with the Metropolitan Police and Westminster City Council, the club learned that its licence would be suspended for 28 days.

The doors at the most sumptuous of Mayfair’s new ‘super-luxury’ clubs, Maison Estelle, were slammed shut yesterday – at the insistence of the Metropolitan Police

A spokesman for Maison Estelle assures me that ‘the safety of our staff, our members and their guests will always come first’.

A Met spokesman tells me: ‘The Metropolitan Police Service applied to Westminster Council to review the licence of a venue in Mayfair on the basis that the premises is allegedly associated with serious crime, or serious disorder, or both. A private hearing took place today and the venue’s alcohol licence was suspended with immediate effect.

‘A further hearing will be held in due course.’

Chat shows? Cara can do them standing on her head

Cara Delevingne is a successful model and actress, as well as an aspiring pop singer.

But Dame Joan Collins’s goddaughter is determined to prove that there’s no end to her talents.

During an interview with US television host Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, Cara, 34, performed a headstand.

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She explained that the gymnastic feat is among her pre-show rituals.

‘I do a couple of different things like yoga, breathwork, somatic stuff to get me into my body,’ she said. ‘The other thing is a headstand.’

Cara then proceeded to flip upside down all while wearing smart grey pinstripe trousers and a white shirt and a tie.

Prince William’s former private secretary Miguel Head has revealed he’s leaving his ‘dream life’ in the US with his husband after quitting Facebook owner Meta – and returning to Britain.

‘It’s no secret that Meta isn’t an easy or always likeable place,’ says Miguel, who spent a decade working for the Royal Family. He has left his job as director of public affairs at Meta’s Reality Labs in San Francisco. ‘[Meta chief] Mark Zuckerberg’s strange AI dream (basically, we’re all going to be less fulfilled in our working lives but it’s OK because we can all become creative artist types by using AI) inadvertently fuelled my desire to get out.’

He’s now going to study for a master’s degree at King’s College London.

Bellucci watches her daughter bewitch Milan fans

She’s inherited Monica Bellucci’s looks and French actor Vincent Cassel’s star power. Now, Deva Cassel is determined to forge her own path in fashion.

The 22-year-old almost brought the catwalk to a halt, right, as she sashayed down the runway for Dior during Milan Fashion Week in a bridal look by British designer Jonathan Anderson.

And watching proudly from the front row was her mother, 61 (left, with Deva), who starred in Bond film Spectre.

Deva made her modelling debut aged 15 with Dolce & Gabbana.

‘For me, posing is always an extraordinary experience, I can transform myself in an instant,’ she has said.

Next month, Deva will be seen on cinema screens in The Phantom Of The Opera.

It’s not unusual for one of Sir Tom Jones’s friends to lend him a helping hand. Broadcaster Jools Holland has offered the singer, 86, a slot on his music show after he was ditched as a judge on ITV’s The Voice. ‘It’s dreadful,’ Jools, 68, tells me at the Boisdale Music Awards. ‘There are a lot of older artists who are still brilliant. I spoke to Tom on the phone about it. He said, “They can’t insure me.”’ [Referring to his New Year’s Eve show] Jools adds: ‘I said, “You should come over to Hootenanny – nobody’s ever been insured on there!”’ 

Dressage star Charlotte Dujardin suffered a one-year ban for whipping a horse, but the incident, for which she apologised profusely, has not reined in her earnings.

The three-times Olympic gold medallist has reported £5.2 million in riches at Charlotte Dujardin Ltd, the private company into which she channels her money. Figures filed at Companies House disclose £6.1 million in assets before bills, £2.6 million up on 2025.

In the wake of her ban, just before the 2024 Olympics, she said: ‘This has undoubtedly been one of the darkest and most difficult periods of my life.’

Students at a number of major UK universities are being advised on how to apply for benefits from the day their courses end amid rising concerns young people are being fast-tracked for a life on handouts.

The guidance from the top educational institutions in some cases urges graduates to apply for universal credit even if they are living with their parents or have a job ‘lined up in a few weeks’.

While another told students to apply for benefits even before their courses have finished to make sure they do not ‘delay’ their claim.

The advice comes amid the worst youth employment crisis in decades with university leavers battling it out for a measly 8,383 graduate job vacancies this July – a 45 per cent drop in job adverts since last year.

The number of graduate jobs is now even lower than it was in May 2020 during the height of the coronavirus lockdown. 

On top of this, official figures show that unemployment among 16-to-24-year-olds had risen from 16.2 per cent to 16.4 per cent in the three months to July, the highest level in more than a decade.     

It has been claimed that rather than equipping their students with the skills needed to tackle the difficult job market, students are instead being placed on a ‘fast-track’ to a life on benefits.

At King’s College London (KCL), one of the country’s top Russell Group universities, students have been told in a blog about life after studies that they ‘shouldn’t feel bad’ about claiming benefits such as universal credit and jobseeker’s allowance (JSA).

Meanwhile, up in Scotland, the University of Stirling advises claims may be made ‘from the day after your official course end date’ (file image)

Loughborough University provided a date in June when graduates would be eligible to apply for benefits

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‘As a graduate, these benefits are in place to help you transition from full-time study to work, even if you are living at home or have [a] job lined up in a few weeks. This is an important safety net, which you should claim just in case anything changes,’ the advice added.

Loughborough University provided a date in June when graduates would be eligible to apply for benefits.

Their ‘money after university’ advice page said: ‘If you are not immediately starting paid work, you may wish to apply for universal credit.

‘Universal credit can be claimed from the day after your course finishes […] You can start to make an application a week or two before, as it takes some time to complete the process,’ it added: ‘As a general rule, do not delay in making any claim for benefits.’

Meanwhile, up in Scotland, the University of Stirling advises claims may be made ‘from the day after your official course end date’.

The university writes: ‘You may need to claim universal credit once you are no longer a student whilst you seek employment or wait to start further study.’

To try and tackle the youth unemployment crisis, Andy Burnham has promised a new government programme to help young people into work.

Through the Jobs Guarantee scheme 18-to-24-year-olds on universal credit and out of work for 18 months will be offered a direct route into work.

Roles on offer are matched to the individual’s skillset, with the government fully funding up to 25 hours of paid work for six months to get individuals into the labour market.

It is hoped that more than 90,000 young people will be supported by the scheme in the next three years.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said: ‘Young people want to get on in life but for too long too many have been denied that opportunity. The Jobs Guarantee helps change that.

‘Seeing the first young people start their roles brings to life what this scheme is about: real jobs, proper wages, and a genuine route into a career.

‘As we roll this out to tens of thousands more young people across the country, we’re backing the next generation to succeed and backing British businesses to grow with the talent they need.’

A spokesperson for King’s College London said: ‘We are proud of our world-leading employment rates for graduates, 86 per cent of whom are in highly skilled employment or study 15 months after graduation. 

‘For a small number of our students who do not have savings or alternative means of support, we offer advice on how to seek additional assistance whilst they look for work – as is our duty of care.’

The Daily Mail has approached Loughborough University and the University of Stirling for a comment.  

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 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.

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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.

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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.