Finance Minister said the Executive ‘deserves recognition’ for supporting families as energy costs rise

Stormont is in talks with the Treasury to secure a “proper financial package” for Northern Ireland.

The region’s Finance Minister John O’Dowd said the decision by the Stormont Executive last week to allocate money towards helping families struggling with rising energy costs will “place further pressures on the Executive budget”.

He said he has had two meetings with Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn over the last week, adding there is a united front from the Executive over the budget.

READ MORE: ‘It’s atrocious’: The people of Belfast speak out about £100 fuel voucherREAD MORE: DUP leader accuses other parties of ‘making it worse’ for struggling families

“I have presented two papers to the Executive in relation to the budget for the next three years, all my Executive colleagues are telling me that they can’t deliver the services that are required within the confines of that budget, we won’t be able to support the economy to the level that the economy needs supported either,” he told the BBC.

“So on behalf of the Executive, I have been engaging with the British Government over this week as have my officials…

“I am satisfied that the British Government are now listening to us but we now need to move quickly into the mode of where they giving the financial whereforall to this Executive to do the job that the Executive needs to do.”

Stormont ministers pledged £19.2 million to go with £17 million already set aside for the scheme from the UK Government.

The scheme will see up to 340,000 lower-income households receiving a £100 payment to go towards their heating oil bills.

“We are talking directly to the British Government about securing a proper financial package for the Executive to allow us to fund public services, to support our economy and see us through what is going to continue to be a significant cost of living crisis for several months if not longer,” Mr O’Dowd said.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Politics Northern Ireland, Mr O’Dowd said that despite the financial pressure the Stormont Executive is under, they made the decision that it is “vitally important to support those families on low incomes”.

“We have received a £17 million pot from the British Government, and the decision was made collectively at the Executive that given the scale of pressures bearing down on families that we would inject a further, up towards £20 million into that fund,” he said.

“That funding will come directly from our budget allocation, there is no other separate pot where that money can from, it’s about decisions, and politics is about making decisions, and the Executive has made a decision in this instance that given the scale of pressures we will supplement that £17 million.”

Mr O’Dowd went on to say the Executive “deserves recognition” for making the decision to support families in terms of rising energy costs.

“We cannot plug every gap the British Government creates, the Executive cannot afford to bail out the British Government, that is the reality of the situation, and that’s why I’m involved in discussions with the British Government about securing a proper funding package for this place so we can support our community and voluntary sector, so we can support our public services and we can support our economy,” he said.

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Sunniside Nights will take place on Friday, May 29, from 6pm, offering a packed evening across venues with comedy, live music, theatre, exhibitions and a showcase of “the worst ever album covers.”

Curated by The Futureheads musician, Ross Millard, the free festival will be a diverse showcase of not just talent but also of the great and versatile spaces that Sunniside has to offer.

Mr Millard said: “The idea is to have the whole of Sunniside buzzing with activity: artists, musicians, theatre-makers and DJs all popping up in familiar and unfamiliar spaces.”

Highlights include a headline performance at Pop Recs by experimental folk musician Richard Dawson, hot on the heels of an American tour and his own mini-festival held at The Barbican in London.

Artist Frank Styles will paint a mural live in the courtyard at Pop Recs throughout the evening.

Wild Fire City will host a set from Worldwide FM’s DJ Santa Leticia, who explores sounds spanning Latin America, the Caribbean, Brazil and Africa.

Elsewhere, comedian Scott Turnbull will present Surreally Good, a comic-book-inspired sketch show at Diego’s.

At Tribeca, photographer Andy Martin will unveil Tins of Town, a new exhibition of handmade tintype images.

Breeze Creatives will host two visual art exhibitions on the night.

The Abject Gallery will present This Time I Have a Reason, a group show by artists on Breeze Creatives’ Best Practice professional course.

Downstairs, the Moving Gallery will feature Worst Record Covers, curated from artist Steve Goldman’s collection of the most questionable record sleeve designs ever produced.

The Bridge Hotel Vaults will welcome musician Sarah Hayes and her band for a set of traditional music, following their 2025 Sunniside Nights appearance.

Theatre Space North East will host Shakespeare Shakedown, a monologue slam that reimagines classic Shakespeare passages.

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Roberta Redecke, head of business services at Sunderland BID, said: “Ross has brought together some absolutely incredible performers and created a unique programme with so many facets that there is something for everyone.

“It’s fantastic to see this event return even bigger than last time around, with more venues, more performers and even more variety.”

The event is curated by Mr Millard and funded by Sunderland’s BIDs, Art Council England, Sunderland City Council and with support from UKSPF.

A Stockton Council report says 175 children and young people started in the authority’s care in 2025, compared to 67 in 2024 and 54 in 2023.

The number of children in care overall rose at a slower rate of nine per cent, reaching 615 children by the end of March.

Children had “increasingly complex needs that put pressure on families and children”, says the report which sets out the achievements and challenges in the children’s social care for the council over the past year. A leading officer has revealed the council will open three more children’s homes.

Louise Hollick, assistant director for early help, safeguarding and children in care, told councillors they still faced significant challenges, rising costs and financial pressures.

She said: “What we are seeing is more older children entering care with significant safeguarding risks, including child exploitation, neurodiversity needs, speech and language needs and trauma.

“We also see higher numbers of babies coming into care due to complexities around domestic abuse, neglect and parental substance misuse.”

She said their disabled children team also saw rising demand with more assessments and support needed for children with complex needs.

She told the council’s children and young people select committee they, like other councils, faced a “major challenge” finding children’s places.

Not enough in-house foster carers meant more children placed with independent agencies and non-council children’s homes, including “high-cost solo placements”.

“Although we have approximately 85 local placements, and new internal provision is coming online so we do have more plans to open more internal homes, the overall system remains stretched,” she added.

Asked by Councillor Sally Anne Watson how many new children’s homes were in the pipeline and how many were needed, she said they had planning permission and had just bought a three-bedroom “edge-of-care” home, meant for “teenagers who perhaps just need a short break from their parents to stabilise things with a view to them going home very quickly”.

She added: “We’ve also had permission and DfE funding to open two further therapeutic homes for children with complex mental health needs. That will be a one-bed and a two-bed.”

She said some of the children in non-council homes were still local, with a handful farther afield, and they were looking at bringing some back to Stockton, adding: “Some of those children are very settled where they are, and not all of those children are in very high-cost residential homes. So it wouldn’t be right to bring back every single one of those children.”

She told of Ofsted-recognised improvements in leadership and workforce stability, good staff feedback and more agency staff taking up permanent posts.

She said a new “front door”, the Family Help Point, launched this month involving safeguarding specialists, police, domestic abuse and substance misuse services, provided earlier help: “It’s very early days, obviously, but the first two weeks have gone really positively.”

She added they were preparing for national social care reforms, with a child protection pilot for pre-birth and babies starting soon, saying: “We will begin our pilot on May 1 for those reforms, in preparedness to have them up and running by April 2027.”

She said they were investing in their learning academy, with 12 per cent of their workforce newly qualified social workers, and “growing our own” social workers, as 90 per cent of final-year students took up permanent roles in 2025, and 91 per cent of social workers were permanent staff.

She said it was hoped a forthcoming “regional care cooperative” would transform the way fostering, residential and secure care were brought in and tackle cost challenges, and a new “Best Start Family Hub” at Redhill would strengthen early years support and help get children ready for school.

Cllr Clare Besford, cabinet member for children and young people, said: “There is so much happening in children’s services right now. On April 1 we did successfully launch our integrated front door, our Family Help Point. I’m really pleased that it went so well.”

She said the council’s Best Start In Life programme had ambitious government targets for at least 78.5 per cent of children to achieve a good level of development by the end of reception by 2028, adding: “I’m confident that we have the right team in place. We’ve got some fantastic people around the table today.”

Cllr Ann McCoy said: “I think we’ve got a lot to be proud of here and I’m sure there’ll be some real rewards for the children as well.”

Raducanu had a very promising debut clay court season in 2022 – the year after she won the US Open in New York as a teenager – but hurt her back in Madrid and had to retire from her first match in Rome a week later.

Much of 2023 was lost to the operations she had on her hands and left ankle. In 2024, Raducanu played very promisingly on indoor clay, winning two matches for Great Britain against France in the Billie Jean King Cup before reaching the quarter-finals in Stuttgart.

But that was followed by a heavy first-round defeat by qualifier Maria Lourdes Carle in Madrid.

Raducanu said she was “mentally and emotionally exhausted” and did not play on clay again that year, choosing to skip the French Open to prioritise a training block that she thought would benefit her fitness in the second half of the year.

She played four clay court events last year, with the highlight a run to the fourth round in Rome, but experienced further back issues in Strasbourg and after competing at Roland Garros.

Her next opportunity to play on clay will be at the Italian Open in Rome from 5 May. There are also two tournaments – in Strasbourg and Rabat – the week before the French Open, which rounds off the clay court swing.

“Those wins over Dublin, Kerry and Galwaybacked up what we were doing on the training field,” Morris said. “They gave us that extra bit of confidence that we can hang with those teams. Donegal probably knocked us down a peg or two but we took a lot from it. It was a big learning experience.”

Getting there (Leinster final) and not winning it was disappointing,” Morris admitted. “But now it’s about taking it one game at a time. There are no easy matches. Westmeath are up first and we know how good they are.”

Read more from Morris here.

There are many Roman remains across Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is steeped in history, especially from Roman times. Across the county, there are many remains that prove Romans once settled here.

There are roads that still stand today that were created by the Romans, as well as remains of Roman buildings. There are also remains of former Roman towns.

While carrying out survey work for a solar farm, a hidden Roman town was discovered near Great Staughton. The town was located in a field, around 850m south of the village.

It extends across 75 acres, which is around 30 hectares. When it was discovered, archaeologists said the town’s buried features were well preserved.

A spokesperson for Homes England said it had “extensive streets” and “buildings of a highly organised Roman settlement of urban character”. Other features include ditches, pits and post holes, as well as grave surfaces that were used as roads or yard areas.

A number of artefacts were also discovered, including pottery, animal bone, glass, copper alloy objects, iron objects, coins, and shells. In 2024, the town was named as a scheduled monument.

At the time, Duncan Wilson of Historic England said this was “clearly a significant Roman town”. He added that the town gave a “remarkable insight into Roman life in the east of England”.

Great Staughton itself is a village steeped in other history. In the village, there is a sundial that dates back to 1637. This sundial has E.I carved into it, which is believed to be for Edmund Ibbutt. He was a major landowner in Great Staughton between 1630 and the 1660s.

The White Hart, which still stands today, is a 17th century coaching inn which is an important part of the village’s history. It was visited by Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War.

Former world number one Mark Allen produced a superb potting display as he fought back from 6-4 down to beat China’s Zhang Anda 10-6 in the first round of the World Snooker Championship.

Northern Ireland’s Allen, a two-time Crucible semi-finalist, had not made a single break of 50 in Saturday’s first session but looked a different player on Sunday.

The 40-year-old produced a magnificent clearance of 140 in frame 11 to start his recovery, following that with a break of 109 in frame 12.

His third century in five frames came in frame 15 with an effort of 129 to move one away from victory, which he sealed with a break of 81 in the 16th frame.

Zhang, who has lost in the first round on all of his six Crucible appearances, scored only 42 points in the last six frames as Allen stormed into the last 16.

Allen will play either 2024 champion Kyren Wilson or 19-year-old Stan Moody in the next round.

The beach at Runswick Bay is nestled between Sandsend and Staithes, and has just been highlighted by outdoor experts.

Runswick Bay itself is known as being a “picture postcard” village situated along the North Yorkshire coast near Whitby, with its mile of “secluded bay and gorgeous beach,” and quaint fishermen’s cottages.

It comes as the team at GO Outdoors analysed average spring temperatures, rainfall, sunshine hours, and reviews of beaches with fewer than 500 reviews on Google to reveal the handful of “hidden gem” spring beaches across the UK, which include the likes of Druridge Bay and Bamburgh in Northumberland.

The ‘hidden gem’ North Yorkshire beach you need to visit this spring

Many visitors seem to agree that Runswick Bay is a secret spot in general, as the coastal location has recently been described as the county’s “best hidden coastal village” and one of Yorkshire’s “prettiest little villages” in several videos by travel enthusiasts on TikTok.

Others have said Runswick Bay is their “happy place” and somewhere they like to go to “prioritise their peace”.

Meanwhile, on Tripadvisor, the village and beach currently have a “very good” 4.5/5 rating based on 431 reviews – 291 of which are rated as “excellent”.

Additionally, over on Google, Runswick Bay only has 56 reviews, but an impressive 4.8/5-star rating.

Someone who is quite the fan of the area shared: “This is the third time visiting this beautiful bay, and once again I leave a piece of me behind!

“Runswick has become such a special place. It’s not massively busy, has a vast beach that is enveloped by beautiful big cliffs that nestle a few large caves.

“The pretty little cottages are all stacked on top of one another down the left hand side of the cliffs, with beautiful little paths and walkways that allow you to walk around the cottages and high up in to the hillside, offering stunning views down to the bay.

“Other places may boast gift shops, amusements and lots of other establishments that bring out the rowdier crowd, but the fact that the bay itself has but one coffee/gift shop and one pub tells you that the place is pretty tranquil.

“The pub is lovely, and the cafe sells amazing ice cream.”

They added: “Other than that, young fossil hunters will enjoy themselves here as we found a couple of fossils.

Visitors have said Runswick Bay is ‘pretty tranquil’ (Image: Tripadvisor)

“All in all, a gem of a location, and one which I hope to visit many more times in the near future.”

Another wrote: “We walked here from Staithes, lovely walk with amazing views (steep in places).

“Well worth the walk! Cafe at Runswick Bay was lovely, great coffee and cakes, lovely place to sit and relax before walking back.

“We had our dog in tow and she was made welcome at the cafe.”

This person commented: “Absolutely stunning! Well worth a walk along the beach and doing a bit of fossil hunting, glass spotting, shell collecting. Lovely ice cream.”

One happy visitor said: “We are here for easter weekend, we visited the lovely modern cafe just on the beachfront, delicious cakes and light bites and beverages.

“Lovely staff and plenty of seats although we imagine it will get busy.

“Will definitely be back as its [sic] perfectly positioned to sit eat a slice of yummy cakes and a cuppa tea while u admire the views.

“The beach was great so happy to see so many dogs enjoying themselves and not a poo bag in sight as mentioned previously.

“We found so [sic] lovely fossils so interesting.”

A popular foodie spot in Runswick Bay is The Royal Hotel, which is “a traditional British pub overlooking the stunning bay and cliffs”.

North Yorkshire travel content creator @adventures.in.yorkshire posted as part of a TikTok video: “It’s the kind of place that feels cosy in every season – roaring fires and hearty food in winter, or a cold pint in the beer garden with those incredible sea views in summer.

“The menu is packed with local favourites, think crispy fish and chips, Whitby scampi, homemade pies, sandwiches and salads, plus a selection of changing specials that make the most of fresh, local ingredients.

“There’s even an extensive children’s menu and locally sourced desserts (definitely worth saving room for!).

“Expect generous portions, great value, and a warm Yorkshire welcome.”

The pub is also dog-friendly and family-friendly before 9pm.

To help you stay safe when visiting Runswick Bay’s beach this spring. Calum Jones, author and outdoor enthusiast at GO Outdoors advises: “When planning your spring beach trip, keep in mind that British weather can still be unpredictable.

“Bring a waterproof jacket to stay dry in case of sudden showers, choose supportive, waterproof footwear for any slippery sand or rocks, and layer your clothing so you can easily adjust to changing temperatures.”

Are there any other “hidden gem” beaches you want to rave about in North Yorkshire, or do you want to keep them a secret? Let us know in the comments below.