AVL Technologies Ltd, which was incorporated in 2016, was founded by businessmen Andy Wyatt and Peter Hudspeth.

Registered in Knaresborough, it operated a shop known as Harrogate Home Cinema on Bower Road, Harrogate.

Reports filed to Companies House, say the business agreed to be voluntarily wound-up on June 15. KBL Advisory were appointed administrators.

A report, known as a Statement of Affairs, says the business had assets of £7,800 which could be realised.

There were no preferential creditors, those who are paid first.

RECOMMENDED READING:

However, there were secondary preferential creditors, those who are paid next, who were owed £51,732.15. This was HMRC, owed £3,8742.28 in PAYE/ NI and £47,859.15 in VAT. This left a deficit of £43.932.15 owed to preferential creditors.

When it came to unsecured creditors, those who are paid last, the statement said there were 20 trade and expense creditors, owed a total of £13,613.81 between them.

In addition a bank/ institution creditor was owed £7,624.38 and HMRC was owed a further £89,876.00. This gave a total of unsecured creditors of £111,114.19.

A overall list of 24 creditors says they were owed £162,846.39 in total.

Among them, HMRC was owed £89,876.00 in corporation tax, plus £47,859.67 in VAT and £3,8742.48 in National Insurance. Santander was owed £7,624.48 as a Bounce Back Loan.

The other debts were relatively small, 16 of them under £1,000.

Altogether, with regards to creditors, this left an estimated shortfall owed to them of £155,046.34. With the business having issued and called up capital of £1,000, this gave a total deficiency of £156,046.34 owed.

A day-tripper has told the BBC how he dived into the sea in an attempt to save a mother and daughter who drowned off an Essex beach.

Craig Bowe, 42, battled the incoming tide at West Mersea, near Colchester, three times after hearing screams on Wednesday evening.

The kitchen fitter, who was on a day trip from Hertfordshire to celebrate his daughter’s 10th birthday, managed to haul Shally and Samiha Rahman from the waves and also helped a seven-year-old boy onto a lifeboat.

Despite his efforts, the pair – aged 41 and 15 – died in the desperate attempt to bring the boy to shore.

The boy, who became stranded during a family day out from Barking, east London, was airlifted to hospital and remained there in a critical condition on Friday.

Three others were taken by ambulance to another hospital after the incident unfolded at about 17:35 BST.

Bowe, from Northaw, sprang into action after hearing a man screaming in the water and seeing bodies floating.

“When I got there, the first two people I saw were actually face down, so [it was] more serious than I initially thought,” he told the BBC.

Bowe pulled Shally Rahman to shore where bystanders began administering CPR. He then dashed back out to sea to rescue her daughter.

Having done so, he then returned to the water to help load the seven-year-old boy and another child, who were about 150 yards (137m) out at sea, onto a lifeboat.

“I helped sort of shoo him onto the boat, because he was face down too… but the seven-year-old was not in a good way,” said Bowe, who was helped by an unnamed man.

“The waves were hitting me in the face. The current was definitely stronger.”

Heavy bursts of rain are set to hit parts of the UK through Saturday night into Sunday morning, a Met Office meteorologist has said

The Met Office says multiple parts of the UK should brace for heavy rain on Monday ahead of what is forecast to be a fourth heatwave of the year next week.

A total of 12 UK areas have been told to expect heavy downpours by 5am on Sunday. Meteorologist Alex Burkill said: “The weather front will bring some more widespread rain through Saturday night into Sunday, especially towards the northwest, where it could be a bit heavy, a bit persistent and down the western side [of England], some heavier bursts of rain.

“Some parts of Wales and South West England are likely to see more rain through Saturday night into Sunday than they have done so far this month.”

On Sunday, there will be “outbreaks of showery rain” in many places at 10am , with “a lot of the rain” then clearing away towards the east, Mr Burkill said. There will still be some “fair scattering of showers” across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern parts of England and Wales around 3pm but this will be “a bit less rain than earlier on in the day”, he added.

Mr Burkill said: “More sunshine across southern areas looking largely fine by the time we get into the afternoon [on Sunday]. Temperatures are going to be down a few degrees compared to what we’ve seen of late.

“Most places will be a couple of degrees lower than on Saturday. Temperatures will peak in the mid-twenties. High pressure in the south means more dry weather next week and we could see a return of the heat.”

Advertisement

Areas set for heavy bursts of rain on Sunday

Scotland

• Argyll and Bute
• Highland
• Eilean Siar

Wales

• Gywnedd
• Ceredigion
• Anglesey

England

• West Yorkshire
• North Yorkshire
• Lancashire
• Merseyside
• Lincolnshire
• Nottinghamshire

It’s now five months since President Trump launched his war on Iran in cahoots with Israel.

He has precious little to show for it – bar growing frustration at the Tehran regime’s resilience; the despair of America’s allies in the Gulf region and elsewhere; a teetering global economy; rising petrol prices at US forecourts; and personal approval ratings plummeting faster than US munitions are being depleted.

When US and Israeli air strikes began their bombardment of Iran at the end of February, Trump claimed it would all be over in a matter of weeks. The Iranian regime would be humbled, perhaps even deposed. Its missile and drone arsenals would be destroyed, its ability to develop nuclear weapons crippled for a generation, perhaps for ever.

Monday will mark 150 days since February 27, when Donald Trump gave the order to proceed with Operation Epic Fury. Since then, none of those ambitions has materialised. The regime is certainly battered and bruised. But it is still standing – more hardline than ever.

Iran’s military resources have been degraded. But it is still capable of raining down missiles and drones on American military bases and US allies in the region.

Tehran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons has suffered serious setbacks. But it still has the capability to start all over again should it be so minded.

No progress has been made, on the battlefield or in ceasefire talks, to ensure Iran renounces its nuclear ambitions, supposedly the fundamental reason for starting the war in the first place.

Now Iran has something perhaps even more precious than the Bomb, something it did not possess before war broke out: a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the global economy’s most crucial chokepoint, through which so much oil, gas, fertiliser and other essential commodities used to flow before hostilities broke out. Tehran’s refusal to give up control of this vital waterway is the main reason all peace efforts to date have floundered.

The war isn’t just consuming Trump’s presidency. It’s taking its toll on the President himself. During a recent meeting in the Oval Office, he ranted against Iran’s leaders, calling them ‘scumbags’ and ‘lunatics’ in an expletive-ridden diatribe. There is growing concern for his physical health and mental stability.

‘Donald is deteriorating before our very eyes,’ I was told in Washington this week by a close confidant who sees him regularly. ‘His physical and mental health is in decline. Those around him don’t know what to do about it. It can only get worse. He’s 80 – and it’s showing.’

But it’s not just age – or the decline in cognitive capabilities that can afflict those entering their ninth decade. Trump is lashing out at all and sundry in frustration at the lack of any good options now facing him.

The hardliners in Tehran are now so cocky they even rebuffed a secret US attempt to get the peace process back on track this week.

So the White House is dialling up the rhetoric – Trump is said to be in ‘revenge mode’ – and the President himself sounds ever more bellicose, saying on Thursday that he was ‘close’ to deciding on a ‘massive attack’.

Even senior aides in the White House don’t know what this would mean. The number of influential voices in Washington who think even ramped-up air strikes –as I write, we’ve just had the 14th consecutive night of renewed US attacks on Iran – will cow Iran into submission are now passing few. In truth, nobody around Trump really knows what to do next – or what he will do.

This week two new intelligence reports landed on their desks to add to their despair – which was further increased by their fear that the President has given them scant attention. Their contents were certainly unlikely to improve his mood.

The first, based on analysis from various US intelligence agencies and drawn together by the CIA, concluded that the Iranian regime would not be cajoled into rejoining peace talks by ramping up US air strikes. The US, it said, had underestimated Iran’s ‘staying power’ – that hitting Iran harder was unlikely to make it more ‘compliant’.

The risk now was ‘indefinite limbo’ between peace and war. In other words a stalemate, yet another low-level ‘forever war’ which Trump was elected to avoid.

Or more bluntly, in the terminology used during the Vietnam War almost 50 years ago, a quagmire.

The second intelligence report, involving US and Israeli intelligence, was even more depressing. Drawing on extensive satellite imagery, it revealed that Iran was rebuilding its devastated missile and drone bases far more quickly than either the US or Israel had anticipated.

Missile arsenals were being reconstituted inside mountains. Bridges, ports and military production facilities were being repaired with speed. Even the northern supply lines through which Russia channelled aid to Iran – and which Israel thought it had disrupted – had been ‘restored’. Iran, Israeli intelligence reported, had shown an ‘impressive ability to reconstitute its military capabilities.’

Iran rebuilt its missile bases more quickly than the US or Israel had anticipated. (Pictured: A missile being launched towards US targets in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain)

Although there has been talk from Washington about seizing Iranian territory, no conceivable US deployment could suppress Iran for long, says Andrew Neil

Advertisement

The sound of war drums is once again emanating from the White House. The media is being briefed on the renewed ‘surge’ of US forces to the Gulf. There are already 17 US warships in the region, including two aircraft carrier strike groups and a marine corps expeditionary group.

They are being joined by more fighter jets and special forces. Bombers stationed at US bases in America and Britain are back on high alert. Even 150 medics have been rushed to a base in Germany which deals with Middle East casualties. All told, including US bases in the region, deployments for the launch of the war back in February plus the latest top-ups, America now has more than 50,000 troops in the region.

But for what purpose? This week in America I listened to several influential figures close to Trump mull over the options. The assumption was that some sort of ground incursion was inevitable. That is certainly the new vibe coming out of Washington.

They talked of seizing Iranian territory on the northern shores of the Gulf to wrest control of the Strait of Hormuz from Tehran. They raised the prospect, again, of invading Kharg Island, from which Iran dispatches most of its oil exports.

There was, thankfully, no talk of a full-scale attack along the lines of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Iran is four times bigger than Iraq, with a much larger population, a disciplined, well-armed 190,000- strong guard bolstering the regime and terrain tailor- made for guerrilla war. No conceivable US deployment could suppress Iran for long.

But there was, much more worryingly, talk of using tactical nuclear weapons to ‘send a message’ to Tehran and ‘concentrate its mind’ on peace. This took me aback.

‘Do that,’ I snapped ‘and you destroy America’s reputation and standing for the rest of the century. You’ve also paved the way for President Putin to do the same in Ukraine.’

I was met with silence. There is much desperate talk in Trump circles these days. As it happens, I do not believe Trump will resort to nuclear weapons. I’m not even sure he will embark on a major ‘boots on the ground’ escalation, even if that is the growing consensus in Washington. US forces could certainly take Kharg Island. But then what? They’d be sitting ducks for Iranian missile and drone attacks.

Occupying the north side of the Strait of Hormuz would be a far bigger task, requiring more troops than America is currently assembling in the region. The topography lends itself to Iranian guerrilla attacks. Ships transiting the Strait would still be vulnerable to missile and drone attacks launched from further inland.

US forces might then be enticed to go after these sites. That’s how you get suckered into a morass. It’s striking that current US reinforcements to the region do not include a big increase in troop numbers, which a major land attack would require. That’s one reason I remain sceptical of a major ground incursion. The other is US domestic politics.

It took six years for the Vietnam war to become as unpopular as Trump’s war on Iran has become in under six months. Vietnam hit a net approval rating of minus 30 per cent after six years and a mounting death toll with no end in sight. Trump’s war already has the same negative approval rating – and that’s without a monstrous bodybag count.

So far only 18 US military personnel have lost their lives in the current war. Each one, of course, a personal and family tragedy. Even so, it is already the most unpopular war since US polling began. It benefits from not a scintilla of bipartisan support. It has a net approval rating of minus 84 per cent among registered Democratic voters and minus 52 per cent among independents.

Surprisingly, it still enjoys a 72 per cent approval rating among Maga Republicans, despite their contempt for ‘forever wars’. But over half are only ‘somewhat’ supportive rather than ‘strongly’. I would expect that tepid support to evaporate if pictures of bodybags started to dominate broadcast news.

The war has already taken its toll on Trump’s popularity. Almost two-thirds of voters disapprove of his handling of the war, with only a third approving. More than

Trump’s war on Iran is at risk of defining his presidency, like the Vietnam war defined President Lyndon Johnson’s, our columnist warns. (Pictured: Johnson with President Nguyen Van Thieu)

60 per cent don’t expect any truce he makes with Iran to hold. Almost 80 per cent want him to end the war now. Trump’s overall job approval rating is now under 40 per cent and falling. Iran has proved to be a major drag on his standing. His approval rating on perhaps the most important political metric of all – his handling of the economy – is under water at below 30 per cent.

Much of that reflects the fact petrol prices at the pump are now over $4 a gallon again, which especially hurts Americans now that the summer driving season is underway. Petrol prices dropped when the ceasefire was agreed and it looked like the Strait of Hormuz was open again for business. Now they could be heading for $5 or more – a prospect that terrifies Republican Party managers in the run up to early November’s mid-term congressional elections, when Trump’s control of the House and Senate is at stake.

The resumption of hostilities has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. Shipping there has all but halted since July 15. So oil prices have started to soar again.

The benchmark price of Brent crude oil hit $100 a barrel on Thursday. It’s likely to go even higher. This week, urged on by their Iranian paymasters, Houthi rebels in the Yemen hit two Saudi tankers loaded with crude and oil products in the Red Sea.

The Saudis have been piping oil to Yanbu, a port on the Red Sea, to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. If this escape route is now in jeopardy then oil prices will spike much further.

In fact, it is not the price of crude that is the real worry. It is the price of the products refined from it – diesel, petrol, jet fuel. All three are already spiking. Jet fuel, for example, at around $150 a barrel in Europe and America, is now almost twice what it was before this misbegotten war began.

The global economy is now on the brink of a major energy squeeze. It has been staved off to date because major economies such as America, China, Japan and South Korea drew on their strategic oil reserves.

Ways round the Strait of Hormuz (like that pipeline to Yanbu) were used. China cut its crude oil imports by almost two-fifths. All these buffers have now been exhausted.

Nor is the problem just Trump’s Iranian adventure. That has reduced the supply of refined products by around 3million barrels per day (b/d) from the Gulf, on which Europe depends for diesel and jet fuel. On top of that Ukrainian drones have taken out another 2million b/d of Russian refining capacity while China has cut back on its export of refined products, perhaps by another 3million b/d to conserve its own supplies.

It amounts to a triple whammy for the global economy, a perfect storm – and a harbinger of severe shortages of vital refined products to come, which is as yet only vaguely understood.

If, as is the talk in Washington, Trump starts to bomb Iranian power plants and civilian infrastructure – and Tehran inevitably retaliates by hitting the pipelines, ports and even desalination plants of the Gulf States (which depend entirely on these plants for water) – then the word ‘morass’ will not do justice to what’s in store for us during the second half of this year.

I end where I started: Trump has no good options. If he tries to slink away from the mess he’s created, all the vainglorious rhetoric he can muster will not hide the fact that he has presided over the greatest humiliation of America in modern times. But if he doubles down and recklessly raises the stakes with a major military escalation, he risks merely making matters worse – for him, for his party, for America, for the Gulf, for the global economy, for us.

Trump’s war on Iran is now at risk of defining his presidency just as the Vietnam war defined Lyndon Johnson’s all those years ago. It is not a legacy any president should wish to emulate. But, through a mixture of stupidity and bravado, Trump looks like doing exactly that. We will all be the poorer for it.

By ED HOLT

Published: 13:41 BST, 24 July 2026 | Updated: 21:41 BST, 24 July 2026

Four men in their 20s have died after a car crashed into a lamppost in the early hours of Friday.

A huge emergency response is underway after a black Seat Cupra veered off the road and crashed just before 2am in the Huyton area of Merseyside.

Two 23-year-old men and two men, aged 24 and 26, were pronounced dead at the scene and their next of kin have been informed.

A fifth man, 27, who was a passenger inside the car, was rushed to hospital and remains in a stable condition.

Advertisement

One eyewitness who lives close to the crash has told the Daily Mail that he woke up to ‘carnage’ this morning.

He told the Daily Mail how the car ‘split in two’ with other parts of the vehicle scattered across the road.

The incident has sparked travel chaos with police forced to shut 11 roads, while there is a temporary flight restriction zone, specifically affecting drones, in place above the scene.

Advertisement

The cordoned off scene following the crash. Merseyside Police have shut part of Liverpool Road while they carry out an investigation. The force has warned that closures are likely to remain in place over the coming weekend

A large police presence remains in place at the site of the crash. The tragic incident happened at just before 2am when the black Seat Cupra came off the road and collided with lamppost in the Huyton area of Merseyside

Pictured: Roads closed in Merseyside following the car crash earlier today

Shocking pictures show debris strewn across the road, with multiple forensic tents also set up in a large police cordon. 

Advertisement

The eyewitness said: ‘The Cupra has hit the lamppost and then landed about 200 yards away and it’s split in two and shattered across the road. There’s bits of the car and wheels just everywhere.’

The force have warned that closures are likely to remain in place over the coming weekend. 

The next of kin of those who have died have been notified and are being helped by specialist officers.

Locals told of their of their dismay, as the scene remained behind an extensive police cordon today which is expected to stay in place while the police investigation continues over the weekend.

Advertisement

Joe Smith said: ‘I slept straight through and then saw all the police this morning. I am hearing the victims are all fairly local which is shocking.’

Mr Smith said: ‘I am a dad and I can’t imagine what it must be like to lose a child in these circumstances.’

A Liverpool Road shopkeeper said: ‘It sounds like a night out that ended in tragedy. My thoughts are with the families.

‘It’s going to be so hard for them. There should be more awareness around road safety for younger drivers.’

Advertisement

Superintendent Paul Holden said: ‘First and foremost our thoughts are with the family of the four men who sadly lost their lives. Their families have been informed and are being supported by our specially trained family liaison officers.’ 

He continued: ‘This is a truly devastating moment for their families and loved ones, and it is now our priority to get answers for them on how the collision occurred.

‘We know this happened very early this morning, but if anyone saw what happened or were driving through the area just before the incident occurred then please get in touch. 

‘Similarly, if you live in the area and have doorbell footage of the black Seat Cupra or the incident itself, please contact us. You may have information or footage that would be useful to our investigation.’

Advertisement

Water firm bosses have received in total multi-million-pound pay hikes over the last year amid public outrage over pollution and bills, as well as government bonus bans.

Among the top water bosses who received the biggest wage hike was Louise Beardmore, the chief executive of United Utilities, who earned £2.5million this year – over a million-pound increase on her salary the year before.

The FTSE 100 firm, which does not anticipate being under the bonus ban, gave Beardmore a £435,000 ‘annual allowance’ as well as a fixed pay increase to £971,000.

The water firm said the money was sourced from shareholders and was needed to keep leaders. The ‘annual allowance’ boost had no performance requirements.

It also added that Beardmore did receive a bonus in the most recent financial year, as the firm maintains it did not breach any Ofwat rules.

Mark Thurston, the chief executive of Anglian Water, was paid an eye-watering £1.9million – which included a ‘retention payment’ of £500,000 despite the bonus ban.

It comes as water regulator Ofwat gains the ability to ban bonuses for bosses at companies that break pollution rules, with eight companies expecting to be impacted by the new rules in the year 2025-26.

Firms responsible for the most serious incidents of pollution or financial failings can also be hit with bonus bans retrospectively.

Louise Beardmore, the chief executive of United Utilities, who earned £2.5million this year – over a million-pound increase on her salary the year before

But despite the ban, the pay for top water firm bosses, reported by water companies, was £25.3million in the financial year ending this March, an increase from £24.9million the year before, The Guardian reported.

It is the second consecutive year where water company bosses’ pay has gone up despite the government’s ban on bonuses.

In recent years, water company wages have come under scrutiny due to increased pollution in the country’s rivers and seas as well as sharp bill hikes by firms for late investments into shoddy pipes, new reservoirs and ageing treatment works.

And a recent hosepipe ban issued across 20 English regions amid Britain’s scorching summer weather has only added to the fury.

In some instances, firm bosses have been given additional accolades which companies allege are not ‘performance-related payments’ or bonuses, and as such do not come under the Ofwat ban.

While Anglian Water confirmed it would fall under the ban, it continued to award its boss, Thurston, who was once Britain’s best-paid public servant, most of his pay through the water firm’s parent company.

The former HS2 boss was also given a £500,000 ‘retention payment’ via this route.

The water company said it did not count the half a million pound ‘retention payment’ as a bonus as it was not connected to the firm’s performance.

They added that the sum was funded by shareholders for work outside of the firm. It also said it required ‘targeted, time-limited retention arrangements to maintain leadership continuity’.

Meanwhile, even though Yorkshire Water believed it was likely to fall under the bonus ban, its parent company paid Nicola Shaw, its chief executive, £600,000 on top of her annual pay of £732,000.

And Ruth Jefferson, the chief executive of Wessex Water, was given a 14 per cent salary hike despite the firm being banned from dishing out bonuses. The water company said the increase indicated the role’s responsibilities.

Thames Water paid senior staff who did not come under the ban £4.1million in bonuses. 

Previous suggestions indicated Thames Water and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water would come under the ban on bonuses for bosses.

Some firms that are under the ban saw pay for bosses drop, including Southern Water, Severn Trent and Northumbrian Water.

However, Heidi Mottram, the firm’s chief executive, received a £300,000 ‘retention payment’.

Andrew Speke, the High Pay Centre’s interim director, said recent figures indicate ‘the government’s current measures have not gone far enough’.

Meanwhile, Gary Carter, a national officer for the GMB union, which represents many water firm staff, said: ‘Finding ways round the bonus ban further tarnishes the reputations of private water companies.

‘It makes them look like money-grabbing asset strippers who care more about lining their own pockets than providing fresh, clean water for the UK public.

‘Senior executive pay is out of control, and the government needs to fundamentally overhaul the water companies – with more public control – to fix it.’

Water regulator, Ofwat, is set to reveal which water firms fall under the bonus ban this autumn.  

But bans can be given to any company who are accountable for serious incidents of pollution or firms that are faltering financially. 

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson said: ‘We have banned undeserved bonuses for water company bosses. Any attempt to circumvent the rules is completely unacceptable.

Yorkshire Water’s parent company paid Nicola Shaw, its chief executive, £600,000 on top of her annual pay of £732,000

Heidi Mottram, chief executive of Northumbrian Water, received a £300,000 ‘retention payment’

‘We will leave no stone unturned in ensuring bonuses can only be paid where companies deliver environmental and customer outcomes and Ofwat’s review of the bonus rule will carefully consider if any requirements need to be tightened.’

An Ofwat spokesperson said: ‘Rebuilding public trust in the water sector is vital and central to our rules on executive pay – last year alone, companies were prohibited from paying approximately £4m in potential bonuses.

‘We require full transparency on all remuneration, performance-related or otherwise, and companies must clearly explain their decisions.

‘Water companies must make remuneration decisions in compliance with our rules, and we hold them accountable for these decisions.

‘We are currently reviewing companies’ remuneration decisions and will not hesitate to take action where we find breaches of our rules.’

A United Utilities spokesperson said: ‘None of the remuneration paid to our executive directors is paid for by customers.

‘It is vital that we have leaders with the right capabilities to run the largest FTSE 100 company in the North West as we invest over £13 billion in infrastructure by 2030, supporting 30,000 jobs.

‘That’s why our new policy includes timebound and targeted retention payments to ensure we have the right people to deliver for customers and the environment.’

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: ‘Last year we made a commitment to be open and transparent about future executive pay from Kelda. In line with this, we’ve outlined payments received by CEO Nicola Shaw within our annual report.​

‘Our shareholders have made those payments due to the work carried out by Yorkshire Water executives to secure new investors into the business, who are committed to our plans and will join our other shareholders to inject £600m into the business before March 2027. Last year, Ofwat reviewed our approach to these payments. ​

‘As previously stated, we feel it is right that this work is paid for by shareholders and not Yorkshire Water customers and we remain committed to being transparent around remuneration and following the FTSE100 reporting approach for executive pay.’

The Daily Mail has approached Water UK, Northumbrian Water, Anglian Water, Thames Water, and Wessex Water for comment.

People are irate after the White House tried to MAGA-ify Jimothy, the beloved Seattle-based raccoon who went viral for having a short spine.

Capitalizing on the viral social media trend, the White House posted an image of Jimothy wearing a red ‘Trump was right about everything’ hat.

“Jimothy spotted on the way to Washington, D.C.,” the caption read.

Within a day, the post had accumulated more than one million views and criticisms that it was “cringe” and the White House was “killing memes.”

One person disputed Jimothy would have voted for President Donald Trump, joking the raccoon was a “Harris voter [for real]” and “maybe uncommitted in the primary.”

But mostly, critics responded with complaints that the White House was using the trending raccoon to promote Trump.

“I swear y’all go out of your way to try to ruin everyone’s fun,” one X user grumbled.

An X user named Evan wrote: “Genuinely the worst propaganda account ever.”

The raccoon named Jimothy has been all over social media, gaining buzz for his uniquely curved back, and stealing the hearts of Seattle locals. In one video posted on Instagram, Jimothy was seen prancing across a lawn before going up concrete steps.

The woman filming the video can be heard saying, “What am I looking at?”

She then said in the post’s caption that she and her partner “were graced with the presence of Jimothy the raccoon with short spine syndrome. Praise Jimothy!!”

The Daily Beast was the first to report on the Jimothy backlash. The White House often uses its social media accounts to post memes or troll Trump’s opponents – a tactic that can resonate with young people and boost morale, even momentarily.

More recently, the White House social media team has engaged with people online by Trump-ifying trending posts. Earlier this month, the White House posted a version of Madison Square Garden’s wedding announcement for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce by replacing the original text with: “TRUMP Is Your President.”

The concept is popular with companies and brands, which are typically doing so to promote a product.

Other Trump administration agencies followed suit on Jimothy. The Office of Personnel Management posted an image of Jimothy “trying to enter public service” and a personal identification badge indicating “Jimothy J. Raccoon” was now working for the government.

The Interior Department press team promptly responded, claiming Jimothy was now a Park Police Officer.

Scott Kupor, director of the Office of Personnel Management, also chimed in: “We believe in equal employment opportunities – in this case, though, I question the merit-based assessment process.”

Kupor’s tweet referred to Trump’s policy that all hiring in the federal government be “merit-based” after accusing past administration of hiring for diversity, equity and inclusion purposes.

Police Scotland has declared a major incident as fire crews continue to battle a wildfire at the Cairngorms National Park – this is a breaking story

Police Scotland has declared a major incident as firefighters battle a wildfire at the Cairngorms National Park.

The force said the decision followed a “significant change” in weather conditions, with strengthening winds making the fire more unpredictable and causing it to spread towards Nethy Bridge.

Superintendent Judy Hill said: “The weather conditions experienced within the Cairngorms over the last 24 hours have added further complexities to this situation. With evidence suggesting the fire is spreading towards Nethy Bridge, the decision has been taken to declare a major incident and evacuate residents as a precaution.”

She said additional police resources are being deployed to help people leave their homes and maintain cordons around restricted areas while firefighters continue to tackle the blaze.

“We understand this is a very concerning time for residents, businesses and visitors to the Cairngorms region,” Supt Hill said. “Please be assured that the multi-agency response remains fully committed to bringing this incident to a safe conclusion as quickly as possible.”

This is a Breaking News story. You’ll be more likely to see our stories when any big news breaks in future by simply by clicking this link. You can also join The Mirror’s WhatsApp Community or follow us on Google News, Flipboard, Apple News, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads – or visit The Mirror homepage.