Fiona Loud, policy director for Kidney Care UK, said: “The waiting list is sadly at an all time high, so where there are barriers like over-sensitisation, we very much welcome the science that could now make it possible to avoid an immune response which makes it more difficult to achieve or retain a successful kidney transplant. This news is reassuring to kidney patients, who frequently need blood transfusions, and women with kidney disease who want to have children.”

Husband and wife team Mark and Tor Bennett launched Sip & Sugar in 2022, and have since built a loyal following with their range of handmade cookies, cookie bars, pies and edible cookie dough.

Operating from a bakery in a Redcar village, Sip & Sugar specialises in all things cookies, from stuffed creations packed with popular chocolate bars and desserts to vegan-friendly alternatives.

Every product is handmade and decorated by the couple, who have expanded the business into what they say is one of the largest selections of cookie products in the North East.

Among the most popular items are stuffed cookies inspired by cinnamon rolls, chocolate cake, Milky Way bars, crème eggs and sticky toffee gingerbread.

As well as the classic cookie, the bakery sells cookie bars in even more flavours including Dubai chocolate, Biscoff, red velvet and even Party Rings.

Sip & Sugar offer a wide range of options based on their iconic cookie dough recipes. (Image: Sip & Sugar)

The creme egg stuffed cookie is one of Sip & Sugar’s most popular product – especially at Easter. (Image: Sip & Sugar)

The range includes plenty of vegan options, with a dedicated section on its website helping customers quickly find suitable sweet treats, as well as a customer order option for giant celebration cookies.

For those a little further afield – Sip & Sugar also ships their cookies and edible cookie dough across Great Britain.

Customers can visit the main bakery on Fridays and Saturdays in North Skelton – but many first discover Sip & Sugar at markets and events around the region.

The business is a regular trader at Newcastle Quayside Market and can often be found popping up at events throughout the North East.

For Middlesbrough FC supporters, matchdays at the Riverside Stadium are also a chance to try Sip & Sugar’s Boro-themed treats.

On match days, Boro fans can often find Middlesbrough FC themed cookies on hand at Sip & Sugar’s event stall. (Image: Sip & Sugar)

As well as offering takeaway treats, visitors to the bakery can find cookie pies and a range of hot and cold drinks.

The business has earned glowing reviews from foodies across the region.

Jennifer Nichols wrote: “Love Sip & Sugar’s treats. Often treat myself to something naughty when they’ve been at local markets. Seasonal stuffed cream egg cookies are my favourite.”

Another customer, Samantha, described the cookies as the “best cookies I’ve ever eaten”, while vegan customer Barry Price praised the amount of choice available.

The BBC’s Shaimaa Khalil sat down with Mopreme Shakur, Tupac Shakur’s stepbrother, ahead of opening statements on Monday in trial of the man accused of killing the rapper.

During the interview, Mopreme reflected on Tupac’s legacy 30 years after his death, recalled the night of the shooting, and shared what it was like to grow up alongside one of the most influential figures in hip-hop.

Read more about the case here.

Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, Joe Perry, and Tommy Henriksen took over the North Yorkshire coast venue on Saturday, August 15, as the American supergroup continued its first UK tour in almost three years.

• Read our reviewer’s verdict of the show here.

To celebrate the crowd-pulling occasion, we’ve created a gallery of some of our favourite photos from the night. Enjoy. And if you’re in the crowd, share your highlights in the comments below.

The concert took place just hours after one band member – the Godfather of Shock Rock Alice Cooper – was spotted ambling around Scarborough Market Hall where he picked up a tote bag in support of one of the independent businesses.

A sell-out audience of 8,000 fans greeted Hollywood Vampires at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday, August 15, 2026. (Image: Cuffe & Taylor)

The Hollywood Vampires were joined by punk and goth-rock trailblazers The Damned, who opened the night in style before the headline act delivered a raucous 105-minute set.

Hollywood Vampires, with Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, Joe Perry and Tommy Henriksen, performed to 8,000 fans at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday, August 15, 2026. (Image: Cuffe & Taylor)

Fans sang along to classics including Aerosmith’s Livin’ On The Edge, David Bowie’s Heroes, AC/DC’s Highway to Hell and Run-DMC’s Walk This Way, alongside the band’s own material.

Johnny Depp back at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday, August 15, 2026. (Image: Cuffe & Taylor)

There were huge balloons sent bouncing through the crowd during a mash-up of Alice Cooper’s School’s Out For Summer and Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall, before Cooper popped them as they made their way back to the stage.

Recommended reads:

Fans queued all day for a glimpse of Johnny Depp in York

Thousands of fans turn out as music icons turn Scarborough into an 80s time machine

32 brilliant photos from Holly Johnson’s hit-filled Scarborough show

Hollywood Vampires also paid tribute to guitar icon Jeff Beck, closing the show with High Ho Silver Lining.

Were you there? What were your highlights – let us know in the comments below.

Shoppers are being encouraged to “shop” businesses they believe could be involved in illegal activity, with HM Revenue and Customs making it easier to report suspicious behaviour anonymously.

The crackdown will see HMRC carry out more than 30,000 interventions this year targeting tax fraud, money laundering, labour exploitation and the sale of illicit tobacco and vapes.

The tax authority’s improved Report Tax Fraud service asks members of the public to provide factual details about anything they have witnessed that appears suspicious.

That could include the behaviour of staff, the location of a business, when suspicious activity took place or concerns about money laundering and tax fraud.

Information submitted will then be assessed by HMRC enforcement teams, helping investigators identify patterns and target businesses they believe could be breaking the law.

Vape shops and barbers in spotlight

The Government says the crackdown is aimed at tackling criminal networks operating on Britain’s high streets, with vape shops, barber shops and other businesses potentially coming under scrutiny.

Chancellor John Healey is calling on people to speak up if they believe something is not right.

Newly appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey leaves number 11 Downing Street, London. (Image: Yui Mok)

He said: “Too many high streets have been blighted by dodgy shops that harm local communities and undercuts honest businesses.

“If you see something that doesn’t look right, like suspected tax fraud or money laundering, use HMRC’s fraud reporting service and help protect our high streets.”

Reports can be made anonymously here, meaning members of the public do not have to give their name when passing information to HMRC.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner (right) speak with police officers outside a vape shop in Ilkeston, Derbyshire (Image: Toby Shepheard/PA Wire)

30,000 HMRC interventions planned

HMRC announced in June that it would carry out more than 30,000 interventions during 2026-27 aimed at dismantling criminal networks involved in tax fraud, labour exploitation and the sale of illicit tobacco and vapes.

The crackdown is part of a wider Government push against organised crime on the high street.

Recommended reading:

A new High Street Organised Crime Unit was launched by the Home Office in May with £30 million of funding, bringing together HMRC, Trading Standards, police partners and the National Crime Agency.

The Government says information from the public will help enforcement teams build intelligence, identify links between suspicious activity and decide where to focus investigations.

For anyone who suspects a local business is involved in tax fraud, money laundering or other HMRC-related criminal activity, the message is clear: report it.

By JAMIE BOYS, REPORTER

Published: 01:31 BST, 17 August 2026 | Updated: 02:13 BST, 17 August 2026

Britain’s new chess queen has been crowned at the tender age of 11. 

England’s prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan became Britain’s youngest-ever Women’s Chess Champion – something she has achieved before starting secondary school. 

She beat a 39-year-old grandmaster on her way to the title at the nine-day British Championships held at the University of Warwick.

In a tense, rapid-chess playoff between the top female players, Bodhana defeated Ireland’s 14-year-old Trisha Kanyamarala, a hugely promising talent herself and the first Irishwoman to hold the Woman Grandmaster title. 

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Bodhana is widely considered a chess prodigy and some experts predict she will become Britain’s greatest ever player.  

Grandmaster Danny Gormally, commentating on the event for the English Chess Federation, said in the closing moments of the match: ‘Unreal! Bodhana, or Godhana as I call her has won. She is unbelievable, a generational talent.’

Bodhana broke a record set by Elaine Pritchard in 1939 – who won the championship when she was just 13. 

The new chess queen lost only to fellow child genius Shreyas Royal, 17, who went on to win the overall British championship. 

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England’s prodigy Bodhana became Britain’s youngest-ever Women’s Chess Champion

Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hosted Bodhana, just eight, along with Shreyas Royal, aged 14

He topped the table after nine rounds, finishing half a point ahead of two of England’s more seasoned grandmasters, Luke McShane and nine-time champ Michael Adams. 

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The 17-year-old from south-east London became Britain’s youngest-ever grandmaster in 2024. 

Despite her rapid rise in skill, Britain’s new chess queen took up the game six years ago. 

She found a chessboard in a bag of discarded items left by a family friend in her home in Harrow, north London, during the pandemic. 

She told The Times: ‘I was fascinated by how the pieces looked, especially the knight and the queen, and I wanted to use them as toys outside of chess.

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‘But then my dad told me that if I did that then the next person who got the chessboard wouldn’t be able to play chess properly.’

He eventually taught his daughter how to play the game – despite only having a basic knowledge of chess. 

Bodhana then developed her skills by watching YouTube tutorials and was soon regularly beating her father. 

Bodhana is widely considered a chess prodigy and some experts predict she will become Britain’s greatest ever player

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She first entered a tournament at the Harrow Chess Club in July 2021, but success came in 2022 when she entered the European Schools Championship in May 2022 aged seven. 

There, she won all of her 24 matches and won three golds. 

From then, she started competing against players with decades more experience and became the youngest person to avoid defeat against a grandmaster in a competitive game at the European Rapid and Blitz chess tournaments in Croatia.

Despite becoming Britain’s Women’s Chess Champion – she is not content to stay where she is. 

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‘I’m happy about the title but I want to keep going for more in the future,’ she said. 

‘I want to become a grandmaster as soon as possible.’  

Fox News presenter Joey Jones is under fire following a three-minute on-air outburst targeting service members deployed aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln who recently voiced concerns about deteriorating shipboard conditions.

Sailors and their families have complained about conditions, including the food, on the ship given its deployment for more than 200 days. The carrier has been in the Middle East helping in Donald Trump’s war in Iran. Administration officials, including the president, have dismissed concerns about the conditions.

“How weak are you?” Jones asked while co-hosting Fox News’s “The Big Weekend Show” on Saturday, reacting to a segment that originally aired Thursday on CNN.

“On TV, complaining about tuna and noodles?” Jones said. “I’m sorry, you volunteered to serve your country. You can come back, get out of the military, and do like all of these Democrat veterans and complain about it and make commercials and be a sellout if you want to.”

On social media, critics immediately turned the host’s own framing against him.

“Put him on that ship for the same length of time under similar conditions,” user Darryl Brown posted on X.

Another commentator, Doan Jeannot, called the remarks “hilarious given that MAGA is the truest personification of weakness.”

The host’s remarks followed an anonymous interview with a sailor stationed on the aircraft carrier, which has been in the Middle East since Nov. 21, 2025. It was recently announced that the ship would return home after more than 250 days.

“I would say morale’s pretty low, and not just in the division, like in the ship entirely,” the service member told CNN, adding that crew members were running low on food. “I mean at some points in the day it would just be about noodles and tuna mixed in together, and that was it … sometimes you get a corndog, sometimes you get a hot dog.”

Following the clip, Jones, a former Marine Corps staff sergeant who lost both legs to an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2010, drew comparisons to his own military service.

“To sit there and say that it was terrible because you had a corn dog and a hot dog?” Jones said. “I would’ve traded a block of C-4 to the Taliban for a hot dog by about July 2010. I just do not understand the mentality.”

Viewers quickly condemned the network’s tone toward deployed personnel.

“Good job Fox News, let’s shame service members,” X user @crimephotosss wrote in response.

“So now they’ve successfully dehumanized all Hispanics, Democrats and now they’re going after the military,” another X user, Ann Panel, wrote. “Making fun of our service men and women is absolutely shocking. These people go out and are willing to sacrifice their lives for this country.”

The host’s remarks come as the carrier strike group faces growing concern following reports of severe supply shortages, declining mental health and incidents of sailors jumping overboard, according to Stars and Stripes.

Top administration officials have consistently downplayed the reported hardships aboard the vessel.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the military’s logistics during a visit to Panama, telling reporters: “We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment. Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody. What they do in those high seas in those austere conditions with less port calls — it’s incredible.”

Speaking at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, President Donald Trump flatly disputed accounts of sailors jumping into the ocean.

“No, they’re not,” Trump said when asked about the reports. “That ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it’s being replaced with another very similar ship.”

Police and ambulance services have been spotted

999 crews have rushed to attend a medical emergency at a Cambridgeshire garden centre. Skylark is a garden centre and cafe based near March, Cambridgeshire.

This morning (August 16) emergency services rushed to the site at around 9am. Police vehicles were spotted at the scene, alongside air ambulance.

Emergency services have now confirmed that there was a “medical emergency” at the garden centre. Cambridgeshire Constabulary has confirmed that it attended the medical emergency.

The force said it would not comment further on the incident.

Prof Gilbert said: “The benefits of this compound are not only that it looks to be effective, with a good benefit/risk profile, but it can also be delivered in a single dose, which is an important factor when you are treating a disease that occurs commonly in areas where consistent delivery of healthcare can be challenging.”

Pupils in Northern Ireland, England and Wales receive their GCSE results on Thursday

Offering pupils high-quality practical education during their GCSE years would require a “major overhaul”, an education expert has said.

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, also reiterated concerns over girls persistently outperforming boys in GCSEs and compulsory resits for English and maths.

His comments come before pupils in Northern Ireland, England and Wales receive their GCSE results on Thursday.

Last year, more than a fifth (21.9%) of UK entries were awarded the top grades – at least a 7 or an A-grade, up from 21.8% in 2024.

This was higher than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic, when 20.8% of entries achieved the top grades.

Prof Smithers said the proportion of GCSE entries scoring the top grades this year is likely to be similar to last year.

While traditional A*-G grades are used for GCSEs in Northern Ireland and Wales, they have been replaced in England with a 9-1 system, where 9 is the highest.

A 4 is broadly equivalent to a C grade, and a 7 is broadly equivalent to an A.

According to Prof Smithers’ analysis, the least frequently taken GCSEs include practical subjects like leisure and tourism, hospitality and construction.

He pointed to the greater popularity of BTecs and Cambridge nationals, questioning whether the current form of GCSEs is “capable of delivering hands-on practical training to industry standards”.

“The new Labour Government under Andy Burnham has been musing out loud whether the 14-16 curriculum should place more emphasis on practical skills,” he said.

“This is a very good idea which I was arguing for 35 years ago.

“It attracted a lot of interest at the time, but as far as policy formation was concerned it went nowhere. That could have been for many reasons, but one that is rarely mentioned is, I suspect, at the root of it.

“It is that schools are just not very good at providing the practical education that is needed, because they lack the specialist teachers, the equipment and can’t keep pace with developments.

“If the Government wishes to rebalance the Key Stage 4 curriculum to encourage technical and vocational pathways, there is a strong case for a thorough review.

“A successful transformation of Key Stage 4 would require a major overhaul.”

Mr Burnham announced last month that technical subjects will be available to 14-year-old pupils from September 2028.

In a similar report last year, Prof Smithers said the talents of boys are not being developed as “fully” as they could be.

But this year he questioned whether girls might have an “inherent advantage”.

In 2025, the gap between girls and boys at the top grades was at the narrowest this century.

Nearly a quarter (24.5%) of girls’ GCSE entries were awarded at least a grade 7/A compared with almost a fifth of boys’ entries (19.4%) – a 5.1 percentage point gap.

This is the narrowest gap since at least 2000, which is the earliest data available.

Prof Smithers said he has called for many years “without success” for the gender gap to be investigated.

“My first thought was that this was against the vibes of the time when the emphasis is on equality for women,” he continued.

“Since men generally come out on top in the workplace, why bother.

“More recently I have been thinking the unthinkable in these days when the cancel culture is in overdrive.

“The sex differences in education achievement are so regular and persistent that they could be inherent differences. This should be taken on board in any inquiry.”

In England, many students who do not secure at least a grade 4 – which is considered a “standard pass” – in English and/or maths GCSE are required to retake the subjects during post-16 education.

In his report, Prof Smithers said the results of this are “disastrous”.

He pointed to the new GCSE of maths numeracy which covers essentials for everyday life, and said the qualification should be improved and available to all pupils who fail, and an equivalent qualification should be developed for English.

The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.

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