Onespace Group, which is based in Knutsford near Manchester, specialises in the creation of commercial office spaces.
Insolvency practitioners from Leonard Curtis were appointed to the construction and interiors firm on January 26.
An official notice was published later on Wednesday, February 4.
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UK construction company Onespace Group enters administration
On its website, Onespace says it has completed 532 projects to date and that it has a team of 30 people.
Companies House shows that the firm was only incorporated in June 2023.
It says that the business works to provide “dynamic, bespoke environments that perfectly match the needs of the companies we serve”.
The website adds: “We are committed to going above and beyond to understand each individual client perspective and get it right first time, every time.
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“We reimagine and bring space to life with bespoke delivery, driven by what’s best for you. We know the key to this lies in understanding your individuality.”
Major projects completed by the firm include the full refurbishment and fit-out of the existing players’ lounge at Liverpool FC, and the fit-out and refurbishment of multiple laboratories at the Oxford Trust’s Innovation Centre.
The Gazette, which is an official record where notices placed by administrators are published, revealed the news that the company had entered administration.
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Companies House has since confirmed that administrators have been appointed and that the registered office address has changed from Knutsford to Manchester.
Other major companies to enter administration in 2026
Onespace Group is the latest of many companies across the UK that have ceased trading or gone into administration this year.
Retail company Quiz confirmed earlier this month that it was closing its online store and starting a stock clearance sale across physical outlets.
Similarly, fashion retailer LK Bennett has also entered administration, with all stores to close.
Travel is another sector hit hard, with several travel companies having closed down this year, including:
Asiara UK Ltd, which offered tailor-made and small-group tours to places like Thailand, China, India, Japan, and Singapore, is one of the latest travel companies to cease trading.
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The travel company dissolved on January 13 before it ceased trading as an ATOL holder on January 21.
It follows a tough year for travel companies in 2025, with several closing down, according to the ATOL website.
These included Ickenham Travel Group Ltd (November), Great Little Escapes LLP (June), and Jetline Travel Ltd (March).
Are there any companies you are sad to see hit by administration this year? Let us know in the comments.
All the songs Harry Styles sang as he returned to Manchester for one night only
Harry Styles made a long-awaited return to the stage in Manchester tonight (March 6), performing a special ‘One Night Only’ show at Co-op Live to celebrate the release of his brand new album.
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The highly anticipated gig marked the first time the Cheshire-born singer has performed a show in nearly three years, with fans anxiously waiting to see whether they had been successful in securing £20 tickets after entering a ballot via Ticketmaster.
The arena show coincided with the release of Styles’ fourth studio album, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally, which dropped in the early hours of Friday morning.
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Adding to the sense of occasion, the gig was declared a strictly phone-free event. Fans entering the venue were asked to secure their phones in a recyclable bag and use of the camera was not permitted.
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Instead, ticketholders were given a disposable camera to capture parts of the event while encouraging the crowd to experience the gig without screens.
The Manchester performance is also being turned into a special broadcast event, with the full show set to stream globally on Netflix this weekend, giving fans around the world the chance to watch Styles debut the new album live.
Following tonight’s show, Styles will embark on the Together, Together tour as he heads to 50 stops in Amsterdam, London, São Paulo, Mexico City, New York, Melbourne, and Sydney from May through December this year.
The tour includes 12 nights at Wembley Stadium in London, as well as 30 consecutive nights at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Special guests and support acts across the global tour dates include Robyn, Shania Twain, Fcukers, Jorja Smith, Jamie xx, Fousheé, and Skye Newman.
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After greeting more than 23,000 people in the crowd, Styles launched into Aperture, the album’s first track, which was released on January 22.
He then moved on to American Girls before playing through the album, featuring key tracks like Coming Up Roses, Dance No More and Carla’s Song.
Below is the full setlist from the ‘One Night Only’ show:
Aperture
American Girls
Ready, Steady, Go!
Are You Listening Yet?
Taste Back
The Waiting Game
Season 2 Weight Loss
Coming Up Roses
Pop
Dance No More
Paint By Numbers
Carla’s Song
Styles also included a surprise encore of what he called ‘golden oldies’ – the classics from his older albums.
Stacy Sharples’ lies cost roughly £120,000 in public spending
Carrington Walker, Helena Vesty NHS, social care and patients reporter and Andrew Bardsley Court reporter
22:42, 06 Mar 2026
A mother faces time in prison after fabricating rape allegations against 10 men in what a court heard was a “wicked pack of lies”.
Stacy Sharples, from Bolton, triggered a series of police investigations that saw some of the men held in custody for hours and others left on bail or under investigation for months. None were ever charged.
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Several of the men had engaged in consensual sex with her; others had never had any sexual contact at all. In one case, after a man who had been cleared happened to pass her in the street, Sharples ran into a chip shop and dialled 999, falsely claiming he was threatening to kill her, Bolton Crown Court was told.
When she was told that police were actually investigating her, Sharples told the man: “They’re not pressing charges. I’ve got away with it. Yet again.” However, she now faces a prison sentence after admitting charges of perverting the course of justice, MEN reports.
Sharples’ false allegations cost about £120,000 in public funds, the court was told, as she initially faced 19 charges. But, only 10 proceeded to court.
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Judge Nicholas Clarke KC said that because Sharples had admitted a ‘sufficient number of counts to reflect the overall criminality’, it would not have been in the public interest to pursue more. Four of her victims attended the sentencing hearing.
“I want to make it clear to anybody that reads anything about their names anywhere, that these men’s lives have been blighted by unfortunate allegations which have been made involving some sort of sexual offending, none of which are true at all,” the judge said.
“Only belatedly by her pleas has she now acknowledged that it was all a wicked pack of lies.” Sharples’ lawyer admitted that he could offer ‘no satisfactory explanation’ for her crimes, but stressed there had been ‘concerns about her mental health and intellect for a significant period’.
Sharples, from Farnworth, Bolton, will be sentenced on Wednesday (March 11). Prosecuting, Mark Monaghan detailed that Sharples’ first victim was Kaylum Davies, whom she had been messaging for a few days, after being put in touch by a friend.
The court heard how, on Boxing Day, 2013, Sharples attended Mr Davies’ friend’s house, where other people were present, and that she mostly spent her time by herself, looking at her phone. After an hour, she left the house without saying goodbye to others.
Sharples then called her brother, falsely claiming to be in danger. She told her brother and father that Mr Davies and other men had forced her to perform a sex act on him. She went on to fabricate that she had been attacked by nine men and threatened with a knife.
Mr Monaghan told the court that her claims were ‘complete fabrication’, and that he’d had no sexual contact with her at all. Mr Davies was arrested and interviewed, while Sharples refused to attend an appointment at a sexual assault referral centre.
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Mr Davies was not charged, but spent 18 months on bail as police began to notice inconsistencies in Sharples’ claims.
A second victim, James Blundell, met up with Sharples after they had met via the dating website Plenty of Fish. He was invited to a hostel where she was living, in Burnage, on February 4, 2018. Mr Blundell said the pair had consensual sex, but explained that he had left after being made to feel uneasy by some of her comments.
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He told her that he was going for a cigarette, but left. Sharples messaged him, to no reply, before falsely telling hostel staff that someone had done something to her ‘which she did not want’. Police were alerted and told by Sharples that she had been raped.
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Mr Blundell spent 17 hours in police custody after being arrested, and was eventually interviewed. He was released under investigation for six months.
Astron Inman, Sharples’ third victim, met her months later via Facebook after she ‘randomly’ added him. They met on August 11, 2018, after Sharples sent him a topless picture of herself and said she wanted to join him in the shower.
Mr Inman picked her up in his car, they had consensual sex, and later he dropped her off at her home. She then contacted police, describing the man as her ‘partner’ and stating he had raped her, but that she didn’t know his surname or where the alleged ‘rape’ happened.
Police took a graphic account of the alleged rape from Sharples, in which she also claimed that Mr Inman had added her on Facebook. Mr Inman was arrested and spent eight hours in police custody awaiting interview.
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He provided his Facebook messages, and the police mapped out the real interaction. Continuing her twisted trend, Sharples contacted Andrew Dearden on Plenty of Fish in February 2019.
They had consensual sex before she asked him if they were now a couple. When they parted ways, Mr Dearden was ‘bombarded’ with messages from her, asking where he was, what he was doing and if he loved her. She also asked to meet again.
He agreed to meet again, at a Cash Generator shop near her home, to help her sell a TV. She told Mr Dearden to wait outside before entering the store and calling the police, reporting she had been raped by Mr Sharples the night before.
Police arrived and arrested him there. He spent eight-and-a-half hours in police custody before being interviewed. Mr Dearden was able to provide officers with the messages Sharples had sent. She refused to attend an appointment for an interview with police.
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Reece Lockett and Conor Austin were also victims of Sharples. Mr Lockett met her through Plenty of Fish in late 2018. Mr Monaghan said there was some sexual contact between the pair but that he did not pursue it further because he thought she was ‘weird’.
Sharples asked to meet him again in April 2019. She said she would be with a friend, and Mr Lockett asked his cousin Mr Austin if he also wanted to attend. They went for a walk at a reservoir, but Mr Lockett had changed his mind about being interested in Sharples. After, Mr Lockett declined to drive Sharples home but said he’d drop her off nearby.
The court heard that Sharples was ‘annoyed’ and told him ‘watch what happens now’. She called 999 and accused both men of rape. Mr Lockett spent three hours in police custody, and Mr Austin two-and-a-half hours.
Mr Lockett later confronted Sharples in the street, after bumping into her, a couple of months later. Sharples ran into a chip shop and called 999, claiming ‘there’s a guy I got done for rape a while ago threatening to kill me’. Mr Lockett made a comment about the police taking an interest in her.
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“I’ve been let go. They’re not pressing charges,” she said. “I’ve got away with it. Yet again.”
Anthony Green received multiple messages from Sharples before they met at his flat in June 2019. They engaged in sexual contact, but did not actually have sex, until she asked him to stop, and he did.
“All of this was done consensually,” said Mr Monaghan. Mr Green offered to get her a taxi, which he did, and she left. Mr Green then received a text saying he’d hurt her, bitten and strangled her. “None of that was true”, Mr Monaghan explained.
Sharples told police she’d been sexually attacked, that Mr Green had strangled and bitten her before penetrating her. She continued to allege that she ‘couldn’t get him off her and that he wouldn’t let her leave’.
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Mr Green was arrested in 2019 and spent 12 hours in custody.
The defendant then changed her allegation, saying he hadn’t done much of what she’d claimed. The case was dropped against him in 2019. Two further victims of Sharples were Andrew Jackson and Jack Byrne. She made a single false allegation about them both.
They lived together at the time in a house, and in August 2019 received a Facebook message from Sharples saying she ‘wanted something to do’, along with a friend of hers.
The two men invited the pair to their house, and the women arrived with two bottles of vodka. They spend the next few hours drinking and taking some drugs. “There was no sexual contact”, Mr Monaghan said.
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Sharples’ facial piercing was hurting and started to bleed towards the end of the evening, and she asked her dad to come and collect her. She then sent messages to Mr Byrne, who said ‘she was pestering me on Facebook and texting me loads all night’. Eventually, Mr Byrne said: “Will you f*** off? Don’t ever ring me at eight o’clock in the morning again.”
“It might not have been the kindest response, but it does not in any way justify calling the police,” Mr Monaghan said. Sharples alleged that the two men got her drunk to the point she ‘didn’t know what was happening’, pinned her down, threatened her and sexually assaulted her by penetrating her.
She claimed the two men said they would attack her, and called her a ‘sket’ and a ‘b****’. Sharples claimed they’d punched her, but there were no bruises to her face.
Both men denied any rape. Sharples refused to be medically examined, and tests on her underwear found no presence of semen. Sharples’ final victim was Lee Dixon, who met her through the dating app Badu.
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They both exchanged ‘flirty’ messages, four days after Sharples had called the police on Mr Byrne and Mr Jackson. Mr Dixon invited her to his home on August 17, 2019.
The court heard how Sharples ‘suggested they go upstairs and made it clear she wanted sexual contact’. They had consensual sex, which was proved by a video recording which was taken, prosecutors said. More sexual messages were exchanged that day.
“‘Mr Dickinson’s first knowledge of any complaint was later that day when he was told the defendant had contact police and accused him of rape’.” Mr Monaghan said.
Sharples deleted her side of their WhatsApp chat, but the messages showed that they had been discussing how they’d enjoyed their sexual encounter. In his victim impact statement, Mr Dickinson said his experience with the defendant and her false claims led him to have a ‘mental breakdown’.
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After Sharples was arrested, she told police: “You need to look into my mental health. That’s all I need to say. You’ll never understand, I had a s*** upbringing.” She also claimed she had emotionally unstable personality disorder.
“I’m a ticking timebomb,” she added, “you flip me off and I’ll flip back.” Mr Monaghan said it was a ‘conservative estimate’ that the defendant had cost the police, criminal justice, and sexual assault health services £120,000 as a result of her false allegations, due to the investigations they instigated, and all of the police, legal and medical time they required.
One victim in an impact statement told of how he’d ’moved to Sweden to reevaluate my life and I wasn’t part of my children’s life for a few years’. He said he now struggles to approach women, adding: “I have a lot of hate for that girl, I hope she gets what she deserves, it makes me sick to my core.”
A number of men told in their victim impact statements that they were prevented from seeing their children after the allegations, were excommunicated from their families and friends, struggled to form any romantic relationships, and have been left with PTSD. One man said the false allegations about him took him to such a dark place he thought about ending his life. Another called the defendant a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’.
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Judge Clarke said: “I take the view that she was a sexual predator. This has taken resources away from genuine crime and genuine victims.”
Defending Sharples, Hunter Gray said the victims in the case would be questioning why the defendants had made the false allegations. Mr Gray said: “In reality there is no satisfactory explanation that can be given.
“It’s not just the harm to these victims, but genuine victims of rape are damaged, as is the wider administration of the criminal justice system.” He said of the defendant: “It is correct that there have been concerns about her mental health and intellect for a significant period of time.”
Mr Gray said that Sharples ‘still struggles to accept full responsibility’ but has shown ‘some remorse’ and ‘some insight’. He conceded that a custodial sentence was inevitable in her case.
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Sharples, of Lucas Road, Farnworth, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of perverting the course of justice. She was remanded in custody.
Victoria Beckham’s husband and children turned up to support her at a Paris Fashion Week show, just days after Brooklyn ignored the family’s messages of love on his birthday
Victoria Beckham‘s husband and three of her children all came to support her at a Paris Fashion Week show amid the ongoing estrangement from her eldest child, Brooklyn.
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Victoria jetted to Paris to showcase her Fall/Winter collection of women’s ready-to-wear looks. Among the audience for the Friday (6 March) show were her husband David Beckham and their children Romeo, Cruz and Harper. Unsurprisingly, Brooklyn was nowhere to be seen.
Former footballer David dressed in a black suit with a gold chain, while Romeo went for a more casual look of brown cargo trousers and a leather jacket. Third son Cruz wore a purple and green cardigan, while daughter Harper wore a black gown. The family, along with Cruz’s girlfriend Jackie Apostel, headed into the event early.
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Victoria’s family event comes just days after Brooklyn celebrated his 27th birthday. The aspiring chef marked another year on the planet on Wednesday (4 March), as did his family, who posted messages of love to social media, despite his warning not to.
Both David and Victoria posted a pic of themselves with Brooklyn to their social media. David added the words: “27 today. Happy Birthday Bust. We love you x.” Victoria said: “Happy Birthday Brooklyn. We love you so much.”
Their words defied the wishes Brooklyn laid out in a legal letter last summer. The letter reportedly told David and Victoria not to tag or reference him on social media.
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While he has blocked their accounts, making it impossible for them to tag him, they have continued to reference him. But their posts went publicly unacknowledged by Brooklyn.
Refusing to acknowledge any of their tributes, Brooklyn instead reposted a video on Wednesday in which his wife, actress Nicola Peltz, 31, presented him with a box of doughnuts, with balloons spelling out 27 seen in the background.
Captioning the post, she wrote: “Happy birthday baby… I hope all your dreams and wishes come true! you light up every room you walk into and anyone who knows you loves you… you’re the most special human and I love being your wife. I love you I love you I love you.” Responding to her, he wrote: “I love you baby girl.”
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After sending the letter to his parents, Brooklyn went nuclear on his family in a seething Instagram statement in January, in which he accused them of trying to sabotage his relationship with wife Nicola Peltz and insisted he had no plan to reconcile with them.
However, Cruz, who also posted a message of love on Brooklyn’s birthday, has said he hopes to reconcile with his brother. The musician was asked if he had a message for Brooklyn on Thursday night. He replied simply, “Happy Birthday”. When he was then asked if he’d spoken to Brooklyn, he did not answer but said he ‘hoped to’ repair their troubled relationship.
A passenger on the train was treated for minor injuries after the crash
Police have released an update after a driver was killed in a train crash at a level crossing in Cambridgeshire. British Transport Police (BTP) were called at around 10.15am on Tuesday, March 3, to reports of a crash involving a train and a car at Dimmocks Cote level crossing in Ely.
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Officers and paramedics responded. A person – the driver of the vehicle – was pronounced dead at the scene.
A BTP spokesperson said: “Officers believe they have identified the deceased, and work continues to inform his next of kin. The incident is not being treated as suspicious. There was no one else in the vehicle.
“Another person who was a passenger on the train received treatment for minor injuries. Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances of what happened.
“Any witnesses who haven’t already spoken to police are asked to text BTP on 61016 quoting the reference 198 of 3 March.”
The FA Cup quarter-final draw could confirm some major clashes as the fifth-round of the competition takes place over the weekend.
Premier League leaders Arsenal and their title rivals Manchester City are still involved in all four competitions this season. Their Carabao Cup final at Wembley is coming up in a couple of weeks, but will Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola see their sides progress in the FA Cup as well?
Crystal Palace defeated Man City in last year’s FA Cup final (Getty)
Arsenal will travel to League One side Mansfield Town on Saturday, before Manchester City go to a Newcastle United side who are also battling on multiple fronts under Eddie Howe this season – with the Magpies determined to win a first FA Cup since 1955.
Elsewhere, Liverpool are through after gaining revenge on Wolves after their 2-1 defeat at Molineux in the Premier League, while Wrexham and their Hollywood owners will welcome Chelsea, having knocked out Nottingham Forest in the fifth round.
When is the FA Cup fifth-round draw?
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The draw for the fifth round will take place from approximately 7:05pm GMT on Monday 9 March, before the match between West Ham and Brentford. It to be shown on TNT Sports 1, discovery+ and the TNT Sports YouTube channel, live from the London Stadium.
FA Cup fifth-round draw ball numbers
1. Fulham or Southampton
2. Port Vale or Sunderland
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3. Newcastle United or Manchester City
4. Leeds United or Norwich City
5. Mansfield Town or Arsenal
6. Liverpool
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7. Wrexham or Chelsea
8. West Ham United or Brentford
FA Cup fifth-round TV schedule
Saturday 7 March
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12:15: Mansfield Town v Arsenal, live on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+
17:45: Wrexham v Chelsea, live on TNT Sports 2 and discovery+, BBC One and iPlayer
20:00: Newcastle United v Man City, live on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+
Sunday 8 March
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12:00: Fulham v Southampton, live on TNT Sports 2 and discovery+
13:30: Port Vale v Sunderland, live on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+
16:30: Leeds United v Norwich City, live on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+
Monday 9 March
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19:30: West Ham United v Brentford on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+
A sweeping and rich movie based on historical events that’s been celebrated by fans as ‘one of the last truly great epics ever made’ is available to watch at home.
The 1987 classic holds an impressive 86% rating from critics on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, as well as 88% from audiences who call it ‘a masterpiece’.
Based on a remarkable true story, The Last Emperor is acclaimed filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci’s Oscar-winning dramatisation of China’s eleventh and final monarch of the Qing dynasty: Emperor Puyi.
After being captured by the Red Army as a war criminal in 1950, Puyi recalls his childhood from prison, remembering a lavish youth in the Forbidden City, where he was installed as emperor of China aged just two in 1908.
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However, as revolution swept through the country the child-king was forced to abdicate, ending two millennia of imperial rule, although he was initially permitted to stay living in the Forbidden City.
In 1919, Scottish scholar and diplomat Reginald Johnston arrives at the palace to serve as Puyi’s tutor and teach him subjects outside of his strict Confucian education, like mathematics, political science and English, for the first time.
(Picture: Hemdale Film/Kobal/Shutterstock)
The Last Emperor is adapted from Puyi’s own 1964 autobiography, which also covered his later political imprisonment and rehabilitation under the Chinese Communist Party.
It stars John Lone, Peter O’Toole, Joan Chen, Ying Ruocheng, Victor Wong, Dennis Dun and Ryuichi Sakamoto and was the first Western film to be granted permission to film by the People’s Republic of China in Beijing’s Forbidden City.
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‘Absolutely loved it! One of my favourite movies, I strongly recommend it,’ praised fan Sem M in an audience reaction on Rotten Tomatoes, while George L claimed: ‘The best movie I have ever seen.’
‘It’s a spectacularly beautiful film. Many of the professional film critics’ reviews criticise the “plot”, not recognizing that the movie is a historical narrative of the vastly changing culture of more than a billion people,’ he added.
(Picture: Hemdale Film/Kobal/Shutterstock)
The film was also described as ‘visually magnificent’ and ‘a film that everyone should watch’ by other fans.
‘I’m so glad I can cross this one off my unseen list. It was a fantastic film. Given the grandeur of the camera as it moves around China’s Forbidden City, I really wish I had seen this one on the big screen. It was breathtaking,’ praised John E, while it was also called ‘the best, greatest epic movie ever made’.
The Washington Post praised the movie as ‘a remarkable achievement’, while Peter Bradshaw’s five-star review for The Guardian added: ‘There’s no doubting its spectacular richness and heartfelt, deeply satisfying storytelling.’
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Running at the time of its release, Todd McCarthy’s review for Variety described The Last Emperor as ‘constantly absorbing and tremendously interesting’.
It would go on to win a very impressive nine Oscars – every single one it was nominated for – including best film, best director, best adapted screenplay, best score and awards for its costuming and art direction.
The Last Emperor also took home three Baftas from 11 nominations (including one for O’Toole), four Golden Globes – as well as nomination for Lone’s central performance – and a Grammy for its score.
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This comes after Bolton West MP Phil Brickell was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Ministry of Justice.
The former financial crime investigator says he intends to focus on several key areas across the justice system as part of his new position.
Mr Brickell said: “I’m honoured to have been appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Ministry of Justice.
“This means I’ll be working closely with the Justice Secretary and Ministers to deliver vital government reforms, including the Hillsborough Law, which will put a stop to government cover-ups, and the Courts and Tribunals Bill, which will fix the broken court system left by the Tories and deliver timely justice for victims.
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Phil Brickell was elected MP for Bolton West in 2024 (Image: Office of Phil Brickell MP)
“I’ll continue being a strong voice for Bolton West in Parliament and look forward to supporting the government as we deliver on our manifesto commitments.”
Before becoming an MP, Mr Brickell had worked for NatWest as a financial crime investigator, and since his election, he has continued to be vocal on the subject.
He has frequently spoken about the impacts of money laundering, “dark money”, corruption and the use of some shops on the high street as fronts.
Mr Brickell’s roles since his election have included chairing the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax.
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During a Westminster Hall debate, Mr Brickell said shop laundering criminal money represents one of the biggest threats to high streets like those in Bolton, Horwich and Westhoughton.
Mr Brickell said there had been an “explosion” of cash-intensive businesses laundering dirty money on high streets in recent years.
He said that criminal activity like this is used to fuel the drugs trade, drain the public finances and drive law-abiding businesses out.
Mr Brickell has previously proposed creating an Economic Crime Fighting Fund to try to tackle offences like these.
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His new role will see him work as part of a team at the Ministry of Justice led by Secretary of State David Lammy MP.
It’s the first time that a celestial body’s orbit around the sun was deliberately changed. The asteroid that NASA’s Dart spacecraft slammed into was never a threat to Earth.
“This study marks a notable step forward in our ability to prevent future asteroid impacts on Earth,” the international research team wrote in Science Advances.
The changes were slight — reductions of just one-tenth of a second and one-half of a mile (720 meters) to a solar lap spanning two years and hundreds of millions of miles (kilometers), according to the scientists.
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“Even though this seems small, a tiny deflection … can add up over decades and make the difference between a potentially hazardous asteroid hitting or missing the Earth in the future,” lead author Rahil Makadia, of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said in an email.
For any save-the-planet tests, “the key isn’t delivering a huge shove at the last minute. The key is delivering a tiny shove many years in advance,” he added.
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Launched in 2021 on the world’s first planetary defense exercise, the Dart spacecraft deliberately plowed into Dimorphos, which orbits a bigger asteroid, Didymos, as they circle the sun together. The space agency quickly determined that the 2022 strike trimmed the smaller asteroid’s orbit around its bigger companion.
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But it took until now for scientists to confirm, based on observations from around the world, that the impact cut the duo’s travel time around the sun by 0.15 seconds. With each solar orbit lasting 769 days, that’s a real-time slowdown of just over 10 micrometers per second, shrinking the asteroids’ 300-million-mile (480-million-kilometer) orbit by 2,360 feet (720 meters).
The researchers said all the boulders and other debris flung off Dimorphos in the crash provided as much push to Dimorphos as the spacecraft itself — a doubling of momentum. Last summer, a U.S.-Italian team estimated that 35 million pounds (16 million kilograms) of rock and dust were ejected.
The good news is that even with the change in the asteroids’ course, Earth remains safely out of their way for the foreseeable future. That’s why this rubble-packed system was picked for the mission, said Steven Chesley of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who took part in the study.
“While it is just a single experiment, it is nonetheless an important data point that will be relevant to any future asteroid deflection missions,” Chesley said in an email.
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Scientists expect to learn even more about the impact’s aftermath when the European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft reaches the asteroids in November. Dimorphos is 525 feet (160 meters) in diameter. Fast-spinning Didymos is 2,560 feet (780 meters) across with, according to the latest study, 200 times more mass than its sidekick.
Unlike Dart, Hera will not strike but will tag along for months of surveying. A pair of small experimental probes will peel away and attempt to land.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The Wales prop produced a moment of magic in the Six Nations clash in Dublin
Rhys Carre delighted and amazed Wales fans in equal measure with his remarkable try against Ireland in the Six Nations.
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With Steve Tandy’s side seemingly set to be heading into half-time 12-3 down in Dublin, the Saracens prop raced in for a score from 30-odd metres to make it a two-point game at the break. As well as capping a spirited Welsh first-half performance, the try stunned many watching both at home and in the Aviva Stadium.
In the coaching box, attack coach Matt Sherratt couldn’t hide his smile, while coach Dan Lydiate was also grinning as he handed the front-row a water bottle.
Two more men delighted by the score were former Wales internationals Dan Biggar and Jamie Roberts, with both working for ITV as pundits.
“I think if you were a betting man, you’d have maybe Rhys Carre to score tonight from a free-kick or tap penalty,” said Biggar. “But not in the way he scored this.
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“This is absolutely brilliant. Great from Tomos Williams to keep the game going the same way.
“When you’ve got an athlete like this in your team… he does Tadhg Furlong on the outside, sells a ridiculous dummy and shows some real pace to get in.
“Just a brilliant score for Wales and Rhys Carre.”
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Former Wales centre Roberts added: “It’s an incredible score from a loosehead prop from 30 metres out. Unbelievable.
“The thing I love most about this try as well is Wales had a scrum free-kick around halfway, the clock was in the red. But they had the bravery to go multi-phase, seven or eight phases, and they manufactured space on the edge.
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“Usually you see back-rows finishing this try. For a prop to finish this. Special player, special moment.”
Biggar joked that the distance would be “45 metres” by Saturday, with Irish legend Brian O’Driscoll quipping that French try-scoring sensation Louis Bielle-Biarrey would need to “watch his back now!”
Posting on X, former Wales international Tom Shanklin noted that previous Wales coaches Warren Gatland and Wayne Pivac had dropped Carre over fitness concerns.
“What a try by Carre,” said Shanklin. “Can you believe they didn’t think he was fit or good enough for international rugby,” complete with a laughing emoji.
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Roberts was also delighted with the Welsh defensive efforts from the first-half, hailing them as the best Wales had produced in the last year.
“We talk about attack,” said Roberts. “That is the best defensive half of Welsh rugby I have seen in a year or two.
“The impact, the stopping power on the gainline. We spoke about the Irish back-five and how powerful they are in the carry, just the ferocity they’ve been met with by that Welsh defence.
“Unbelievable in that first-half and it’s keeping them in this match.”