Here is his resignation letter in full:

“Dear constituents,

“When I was elected, I promised that I would always put you first. That promise is why I am writing to you today.

“For me and my family, these towns have become home. A few weeks ago, my son was born in the Infirmary, where Wigan’s midwives and doctors saved his life. On the weekends, our kids do football and gymnastics, or join me at parades for St Georges or VE Day. Every week, I visit a local school, lead community meetings, and bang heads together to drive forward change that matters to you.

“Together, we are making progress. We are securing major flood defences to protect Platt Bridge, Abram, Bickershaw, Ashton, and Hindley. We are fighting to save Ashton Library and restore it as a community treasure. We are cleaning up the illegal waste dump in Bickershaw, so primary school kids can breathe again. We will build new roads, health centres in Orrell and Hindley Green, and a leisure centre in Hindley.

“But since I was elected, I have seen that Westminster and Whitehall are so often a barrier to getting things done – even as my own party is in power.

“The truth is, complacency has become a rot. The establishment is so far from the realities of your lives that too many tweak a failing system just to stay in power. As our world gets more insecure and our economy flatlines, Westminster stays stuck.

“It does not have to be this way. There is a different future for our towns – where there are good local jobs, we reindustrialise and back the trades, young people can afford to stay and build a life here, our town centres and parks are places we want to spend time in, and our kids inherit something better than what we did.

“But the route to this future requires breaking with what we have today. We need to shift the power that is stacked against places like ours. As I have said, I do not believe this government is delivering the urgent, radical, brave reform we need. We need a new direction.

“I believe that Andy Burnham can provide it. These towns are Andy’s home. He grew up and raised his children here and he has fought for us all his life. He stood by me to secure flood defences after the Platt Bridge floods. He demanded that the Bickershaw dump get cleaned up – and got results. Andy is from us and for us.

Current GM Mayor Andy Burnham (Image: NQ)

“I could not stand here and tell you that our politics is broken and things need to change, then stand in the way of supporting that change. That is why I have decided to put you, the people I represent, and the country I love, first.

“That means stepping aside as your MP for Makerfield to make way for a leader who has the radicalism, energy, and immense courage to meet the moment. A leader who is authentic, honest, and trusted, who says what he believes and does what he says. Someone who has the track record of delivering for working people, building alliances, and using the talents of colleagues from every part of the party. That is Andy.

“I want to be clear: I am stepping aside but I am not stepping away. Our home is here and I will be fighting to save Ashton Library, clean up the Bickershaw dump, secure flood defences and health provision in Orrell and Hindley Green, and deliver new roads. I will be a thorn in anybody’s side who stands in our way.

“But to get these things done, the Labour Party and the government must change. The way Westminster and Whitehall work must change. Our towns and communities – the places that built this country – must be at the heart of this change.

“This has been the hardest decision of my life. I have made it because without a shock to the Westminster system, I cannot deliver the change that I promised to you. If my Constituency Labour Party members select Andy, he can deliver that change.

“If you place your trust in him, we will restore our towns to the places they should be, rip up the existing system, and build a new one that puts you at the heart of it. With Andy, I will fight for that, and for you, every step of the way.”

Summer Spellman (Harriet Bibby) looks set to leave Coronation Street amid the current investigation into Theo Silverton’s (James Cartwright) murder.

It’s been a tough year for Summer so far, with 2026 getting off to a bad start with the death of her father-figure, Billy Mayhew.

Billy died after being trapped in the burning minibus by Theo during the Corriedale crossover pile-up, unable to escape before the vehicle exploded.

Since then, Summer has leaned on Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce) for support, unaware that he also needed help.

Todd was trapped in an abusive relationship with Theo for just over a year, with none of his loved ones realising.

What began as gaslighting and making nasty comments about Todd’s appearance escalated to financial control, physical assault, and sexual abuse.

Prior to Theo’s murder, his treatment of Todd was exposed, when George Shuttleworth (Tony Maudsley) overheard the way Theo had been speaking to his then husband.

At that point, Todd’s friends and family were quick to come to his aid – including Summer.

However, in tonight’s episode, she admitted to Todd that she had been offered a place at a university in America.

She insisted that she was going to turn it down, pointing out that it would be unfair to leave Todd with everything going on at the moment.

Todd, however, was adamant that she not waste the opportunity, and urged her to get as far away from Coronation Street as possible, forget about everything that’s happened and never look back.

This seemed to persuade Summer to accept her place, especially when Todd told her that he was excited for her.

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Unfortunately for Summer, she may not get the opportunity to study abroad, as she is set to face an interrogation from the police next week as part of the investigation into Theo’s murder.

Theo’s body was discovered by Betsy Swain (Sydney Martin) during the flash-forward episode earlier this year.

Though at first his death was thought to have been suicide, it later transpired that he had been murdered.

Next week, George and Christina Boyd (Amy Robbins) find Summer’s diary and are horrified by what is written inside.

On top of that, Kit Green (Jacob Roberts) spots a crucial detail in the back of Lisa Connor-Swain’s (Vicky Myers) wedding pictures that could implicate Summer, which leads to her being brought in for questioning.

Things only get worse when George reveals what he saw on the night of Theo’s murder, and later, Summer overhears Christina predicting that the police will soon be after her.

When Todd catches Summer making a sneaky getaway with a hold-all, she reveals that she’s frightened the police will arrest her for Theo’s murder, and plans to fly out to the States that afternoon.

Will she make it overseas before the police catch up to her, or is this the beginning of the end for Summer?

MORE: All Coronation Street spoilers for next week as new evidence ‘confirms’ Theo’s killer

MORE: Coronation Street Theo star drops huge hint as to who the killer is

MORE: Coronation Street drops huge clues as to who killed Theo as murder plot deepens

‘Be careful, you can’t stop a dozer’

An angry drinker who used a stolen vintage bulldozer to ram a pub after a heated argument has been sentenced to 40 months in prison.

Daniel Morgan, of Aberdare in south Wales, “saw red” and carried out the targeted attack on The New Inn in Cefn Rhigos after being taunted by patrons about his recent divorce.

A trial at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard that the 35-year-old had been struggling with the collapse of his marriage, fuelled by a daily habit of six pints of beer and cocaine use.

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On the night of the incident last December, Morgan became enraged by comments made at the pub regarding his separation and his “mistaken suspicions” that his former partner had been unfaithful.

Before the attack, Morgan sent chilling text messages to the landlord, Christopher Common, warning him: “Be careful, you can’t stop a dozer” and “It will be a drive-thru”.

Morgan stole a Hanomag d600 bulldozer from his father’s farm and began the slow trek toward the village.

His father, Phillip Morgan, acted quickly to prevent a tragedy. He raced ahead to the pub to warn the landlord, allowing customers to evacuate just before the heavy machinery arrived.

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After Morgan smashed the bulldozer into the pub’s front porch – causing over £22,000 in damage – he attempted to drive toward his estranged wife’s home, crushing another vehicle in his path.

The rampage was only stopped when his father used a separate digger to smash the bulldozer’s dashboard, disabling the controls.

Morgan was kept in the cab as police officers arrived at the scene. He was bleeding from his head and appeared to be extremely intoxicated.

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Wales Online reports that while receiving treatment at University Hospital Wales, Morgan told medical staff: “This is all because my ex hasn’t let me see the kids. It’s been three weeks and now I definitely won’t be able to see them.”

He also said: “My mum won’t be able to work in [the pub] anymore – or what’s left of it”.

Morgan previously pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving and criminal damage recklessly endangering life. In addition to his prison sentence, Morgan has been banned from driving for 39 months.

Judge Celia Hughes noted that while Morgan was a “hard-working” man acting out of character during a mental breakdown, his actions were “deliberate” and caused “great fear” to the community. She concluded that Morgan was “extremely fortunate” that his actions did not result in serious injury or death.

It has been a day of great drama, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting walking out of the cabinet and saying to Prime Minister Keir Starmer: “Where we need vision, we have a vacuum.”

But he seems not to have got the necessary number of supporters to stand against Mr Starmer, and so it appears he has sacrificed himself to further the cause of Andy Burnham, the mayor of Manchester. Almost noble, for a politician.

And Mr Burnham now has a way back into Parliament. In the evening, the Manchester MP Josh Simons – who resigned from the government earlier in the year over accusations he had spied on journalists – stood aside, forcing a by-election which Mr Burnham could contest.

But the day’s episode ends on a drum roll and a cliffhanger: will Mr Burnham’s candidature be passed by the Starmer-influenced committee, and, if it is, would he be successful in a by-election where Labour is only defending a 5,000 majority? The British public once voted for Boaty McBoatface – how will they feel about being pawns in a Labour game? And what if Reform finds a high profile candidate to stand against Mr Burnham?  Who will win that showdown?

It is real life drama, and while it may make entertaining watching, Labour is now, just like the Tories, delivering Britain into a long summer of political in-fighting. That summer may end with Prime Minister Burnham who lacks democratic legitimacy, having never stood on the manifesto on which his government is based.

This soap opera cannot be good for Britain. We have a weakened prime minister battling with his own party when the country needs him to be fighting to re-open the Strait of Hormuz and save us from recession. Soap operas rarely have a happy ending.

I was texting a museum director friend in Asia recently. We were discussing whether a trip to this year’s “artworld Olympics”, the Venice Biennale, justified the carbon release.

I felt ambivalent. The main exhibition is curated by Koyo Kouoh, whose 2016 edition of Ireland’s Biennale, EVA International, on the 1916 Easter Rising centennial I had admired. Kouoh died of cancer earlier this year. Her posthumously realised Venice Biennale, titled In Minor Keys, seemed a final opportunity to appreciate the subtle, intelligent work of Africa’s leading curator.

Against the lure of Kouoh’s exhibition, though, was a queasy realisation that the Biennale seemed to be ideologically backsliding. Russia and Israel, both accused of war crimes, were controversially participating.

Alongside the huge guest-curated show of contemporary art, the Biennale invites countries to present exhibitions they curate themselves in national pavilions in the Giardini di Biennale and citywide venues. Following Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia was excluded, its pavilion remaining shuttered throughout the 59th and 60th editions. But last year Giorgia Meloni’s government appointed rightwing ideologue Pietro Buttafuoco as Biennale director.

Buttafuoco revoked Russia’s exclusion. He also facilitated the relocation of Israel’s exhibition from its usual Giardini pavilion to a high security cul-de-sac in the Biennale’s second official venue, the massive Arsenale.

“This biennale seems cursed,” texted my friend. Despite feeling hypocritical about the environmental burden, I booked a flight to Venice.

Angry protests and violent reprisals

In the weeks leading up to the exhibition, my friend’s suggestion looked increasingly on point. A complicated choreography of war, state violence and activism began to play out. They culminated during the Bienniale preview in angry protests and violent reprisals.

The Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) gathered 236 curators, artists and art workers to campaign for Israel’s exclusion and improved conditions for cultural workers.

When Kouoh’s international jury refused to consider Israel and Russia for the Biennale’s prestigious Golden Lion awards, artist Belu-Simion Fainaru, who was representing Israel, threatened them with legal action, according to the Italian news agency Adnkronos and arts publication Hyperallergic. The jury resigned. Their subsequent silence has not been explained.

Relieved of the professional all-female expert jury that Kuouh appointed, Buttafuoco instated a Eurovision-style audience prize. At the time of writing, over 70 artists have withdrawn from the awards in protest.

Like an artwork, a curse is a performative utterance at the nexus of ritual symbolism and magic. People like to believe that art, unlike curses, is a force for good. But as I argue in my book The Deployment of Art, there is a long history of state co-option of art and artists in the service of malign agendas of state violence. To me, The 61st Biennale seems one such example.

In a statement on the Biennale website, Buttafuoco amplifies the spiritual dimensions of Kouoh’s vision. “It is an exhibition permeated with spirit, with a sacredness that puts the person, the human being, back at the heart of things … looking to the sky once more.”

Much art in the main exhibition is hard to square with such whimsy. Pio Abad’s precise critical drawings of everyday objects of imperial plunder, like houseplants and chocolate, alongside stolen Benin bronzes. Walid Raad’s series of found photographs of beds slept in by Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat. Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige’s extraordinary sculptural excavation of the lost ancient city of Orthosia, hidden beneath a buried refugee camp in southern Lebanon.

But other works better serve Buttafuoco’s vague, obfuscating narratives of “sacredness” and “spirituality”.

In the Arsenale, an uprooted olive tree that recalls images of the desecration of Palestinian olive groves rotates on a plinth to the perverse accompaniment of tinkly ballerina music. This work by Theo Eshetu is titled Garden of the Broken Hearted, but the accompanying label doesn’t explain why the tree was uprooted, or from where, only that it “stands as a poetic reflection of impermanence”.

Alfredo Jaar’s “shrine” to base materials, a thrumming scarlet cathedral titled The End of the World meanwhile, so overwhelms the senses that I felt faint. I later saw a young woman collapsed outside it, attended by paramedics. Numerous other works draw on ritual traditions and spiritual practices from “the powerhouse of Africa” (Buttofuocco’s term).

Police presence was pervasive throughout the previews. Armed, helmeted officers held a line around Pussy Riot’s demonstration at the Russian pavilion, where protesters released blue, yellow and pink smoke canisters chanting “bloody Russian art” and “curated by Putin, corpses included”.

On the final preview day, as many pavilions closed early in strike protest, police stomped through the Giardini in heavily armed groups ten or 20 strong. At 4.30pm a peaceful crowd of ANGA protesters, many with young children in pushchairs or carried on shoulders, marched from the Giardini to the Arsenale where riot police used batons to beat them back. Surveillance helicopters hovered over the city until long after midnight.

Visions of hell

When future art historians study the 61st Biennale, they may notice a poster slogan from the ANGA protest: “Palestine is the Future of the World.” Meanwhile, visitors would do well to venture beyond the Giardini and Arsenale to an unofficial collateral exhibition organised by the Museo Moderno Buenos Aires.

Taking its title from John Milton’s description of hell, Darkness Visible: The Long Shadow of the Dictatorship brings together a trans-generational group of artists. Their work has been shaped by a regime of state terror (1976-83) that implemented a systemic policy of kidnappings, torture, murder and the forced disappearance of thousands.

Darkness Visible positions art as a vehicle for understanding history, protecting memory and human rights, and engaging in activism against state violence. One photograph by Marcelo Brodsky documents a demonstration by the Madres de Plaza de Mayo demanding information about their forcibly disappeared children. Brodsky’s mother (whose son was disappeared) appears in the image holding a banner that draws connections between second world war concentration camps in Warsaw and ESMA, a clandestine torture and extermination centre used by the Argentinian junta during the dictatorship.

As I contemplated this image, the exhibition’s curator Victoria Noorthoorn explained: “We wanted to present this show in Venice now because our Argentinian artists have much to say about fear, violence, pain and trauma that remain as scars from Argentina’s repressive regime. Their work reminds us of the need to protect core values: human and civic rights, democracy, freedom of expression and artistic creation.”

The protests I witnessed in Venice were marked by real anger, solidarity but also moments of tenderness and joy. A hopeful sign of how art and artists might imaginatively reinvent future biennales, undo the cursed present and lead us away from the darkness closing in.

Bring a physical card on board

Anything else?

Psychologists say that a curious mindset is a superpower against anxiety, tempering stress and that it can even help cope with feelings like uncertainty. Similarly to volunteering, it also lights up the brain’s reward centres, delivering a dopamine boost whenever we learn something new or achieve a cherished goal. 

Those at the Mental Health Foundation suggest planning things to look forward to as a way of helping us to cope with difficult situations. It could be small, from carving out time to watch your favourite TV programme, to planning a holiday or even booking a day of annual leave to spend some time doing what makes you feel great.

“Decide what you’ll do, when and with who and, if needed, book it,” they say.

Image: Dushawn Jovic
Main image: Kevin Wolf

Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) has been left utterly terrified in Emmerdale after being told that Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) now knows that he played a part in having Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb) framed.

Way back at the start of the year, Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) found ID cards at Celia Daniels’ (Jaye Griffiths) farmhouse. They belonged to all of the vulnerable adults she had brought onto her land, who had either disappeared or been killed in the aftermath of Celia’s operation falling apart.

At the time, Joe was also keen to take Butler’s Farm from Moira, and realised a new opportunity was staring him in the face.

He then called on Robert and told him to plant the passports at Butler’s, or he’d tell the police about Victoria Sugden (Isabel Hodgins) killing John.

Robert did as he was told, and watched totally innocent Moira get taken away from her family.

Robert spent months feeling utterly horrendous about his actions, and confessed his secret to Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) went it became clear Moira was going to plead guilty at her hearing.

They worked together to find new evidence to free Moira, which eventually saw them discover a storage unit in Hotten with paperwork that confirmed Moira wasn’t involved in Celia’s plan.

Moira learnt about Joe and Robert’s plan when she returned to the village, but chose to keep Robert’s involvement a secret from Cain, as she wanted him to solely focus on his cancer operation.

His surgery happened at the start of the week and yesterday, Cain returned home. Things are pretty tense at Wishing Well, as Cain is trying to get used to the side effects of the operation, while feeling smothered by his loved ones who are attempting to look after him.

The awkward vibes between Moira, Aaron and Robert continued in today’s episode, and Cain decided to get some answers when he picked up on them having a quiet conversation without him.

Moira told him that Robert helped put her in prison, and obviously Cain immediately wanted to go over to the Sugden farmland and violently get revenge.

Moira was desperate for Cain not to do anything due to the fact he’d just end up hurting himself in the middle of his recovery.

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Meanwhile, Robert had received a text from Moira confirming that Cain now knows about his secret. He was utterly terrified, and knew it wouldn’t be long until Cain came for him.

At Wishing Well, Cain eventually said to Moira that he wouldn’t let this situation eat away at him, but then asked Sam Dingle (James Hooton) for help with ‘something bad’.

It’s been a mere few days since Cain’s operation, but the need to hurt Robert is the only thing he can focus on now.

Tomorrow, Cain will confront Robert with a hammer – but how far is he going to go?

Actor Jeff Hordley said: ‘He thinks it would be a good idea to go round there, so he takes a hammer, takes Sam and ties Robert up in a chair, just to get information out of him…’ All done with a catheter bag strapped to his leg.

He added: ‘This guy’s [Robert] made so many mistakes in the past, as far as Cain’s concerned.

‘Already taking the farm in his eyes off him, but then to find out that he was instrumental in Moira going inside, he [Cain] just sees the red mist descend. He finds the strength to go round with a hammer.’

MORE: All Emmerdale spoilers for next week as casualty of Tate-Dingle war ‘confirmed’

MORE: Kev’s return story ‘confirmed’ in Emmerdale as he’s blamed for several crimes

MORE: Emmerdale’s Cain stages return – but so much has changed

President Xi has been eager to portray himself as a stable global leader in contrast to a mercurial US president. Given the size of China’s economy, a number of world leaders, including those from US allies such as Canada, the UK and Germany, have turned up, eager to do a deal with Beijing.

The referral was revealed after world No43 Matthew Selt was taken to court by Susan Hickenbotham in a row over the family home

A snooker pro’s mum will be referred to the authorities for alleged housing benefits fraud after a bitter legal battle over a £620,000 family house.

Susan Hickenbotham claimed her son Matthew Selt, the world No43, his sisters Claire Noble and Charlotte Hamblin ganged up and demanded she sign the family home over to them, reducing her to tears. Hickenbotham, who has been claiming social security and housing benefits since 1992, claimed ownership of the house in Romford, where she has lived since 1998, and which is now worth around £620,000.

Hickenbotham was served an eviction notice by her daughter Claire Noble in 2024. She claimed she bought the property from her ex-husband Michael David Selt for £75,000, as a gesture of goodwill after they split up. The mum-of-three claimed she put £7,500 towards the mortgage in 2000 and bought the house outright in 2011 after she was left some money by her father.

She claimed this money was given to Noble to put towards the house, but Noble kept it for herself. Hickenbotham’s lawyer has claimed her children created a ‘sham tenancy’, listing Noble as the owner and her mother as the tenant so she could claim housing benefit. Selt, 41, said he didn’t remember the details of the property being acquired in 2000 or the deed signing in 2019.

Judge Simon Monty KC on Thursday warned the family the case could end in “mutually assured destruction.” In his judgement, he said Hickenbotham’s account of how she raised £7,500 to put towards the house was “unconvincing.”He said Hickenbotham did pay Claire £7,500 in cash to Ms Noble but it was to be used towards renovations rather than being a deposit.

The judge said: “None of Susan, Claire or Charlotte come out of this well and I did not think that any of them were convincing witnesses. I approach their evidence, all of it, with considerable caution.” The judge decided Hickenbotham was lying about being forced to sign a deed.

He said: “In my view, there was a meeting, which was probably on 6 June 2019, at the property, attended by Susan and the three children. There was no draft deed produced at the meeting, and there was no shouting by the children. Claire went through the proposed deed, and whilst she and her siblings were very keen that Susan should sign it, there was at that time no document to be signed and nothing was signed at that meeting.

“I do not accept Susan’s version of events- I accept what Claire, Matthew and Charlotte say about the meeting. None of the children recall Mark being there. He was not. I do not accept anything Susan says about the shouting or the tears or her being distressed and upset. I regret to have concluded that Susan has made all of this up.”

The judge dismissed Hickenbotham’s claim but said she did contribute £7,500 to the purchase. He also concluded that Hickenbotham had given Noble £96,000 which she had got to her father in order to pay off her mortgage but that Ms Noble did not put it into the mortgage. The judge said the tenancy document was a ‘sham’ by Noble and Hickenbotham to deceive the local authority.

He said: “Susan, with the assistance of Claire, has perpetrated what appears to have been a housing benefits fraud between 2000 and 2019 by setting up a false tenancy agreement naming as the tenant the true owner of the property knowingly in order to receive housing benefit which was used to pay the mortgage. I do not think Charlotte was involved. Matthew was not involved.

“Although Susan had a 10 per cent share in the property, the deed was freely entered into. By the deed, Susan declared that she had no interest in the property. The claim is dismissed. I intend to report Susan and Claire to the appropriate authorities in relation to the apparent benefits fraud. This is a very sorry, and I have to say, entirely predictable, end to these unhappy proceedings.”

Tom Russell, KC, representing his mum, earlier said the sportsman gave “no significant detail” during his evidence. He said: “I wonder if this is an effect of his profession, being in the public eye, which is to deny everything. It was like a no comment interview, he didn’t recognise any documentation, he did not recognise any facts of the case supported by documentation,” he said.

He said Selt could not remember details of his eldest son’s first birthday party, at which Mr Selt and his siblings say the deed was signed by their mother in 2019. Judge Monty had said Selt was not as involved in the case as his mother and sisters. He said: “He’s not really at the centre of all of this, he’s the most distant.”

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Hamblin, who represented herself and her siblings, told the court: “The claimant has shown she can be violent to both the public and her family. Hamblin said there were “huge evidential gaps” in her mother’s case, and that she had been happy with the arrangement on the house for years before bringing the lawsuit.

She said for years there was “no mention of the deed, no mention of the tears, and no mention of the duress.” She added: “It is only when the claimant’s relationship with the first defendant [her eldest daughter Ms Noble] failed, and she was asked to leave because of her own evidenced conduct. The claimant agreed under oath her divorce was toxic. “What is more likely, that the father wanted his children to have the property, or he wanted to give it to his ex-wife?”

Hamblin said an email from her dad was shown to the court “confirming he did not want the property to go to his ex wife,” adding: “He is either not being truthful in court to benefit herself financially, or she has been lying to the benefits system for many years both are acts of dishonesty.”

Matthew made his first 147 of his 24-year career at the BetVictor Championship League in January. Last year he was removed from his position as vice-chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) players’ association for ‘rude and aggressive’ behaviour at the 2024 Saudi Arabia Masters.