Racing drivers prompt safety concerns on west Lancashire by-pass
Owens said: "It's a relatively straight road, there are roundabouts so they have sections, they can time themselves, have races along those sections and that's what they've been doing."The councillor said residents had raised concerns about the issue and appealed for any drivers who want to race to do so safely at a dedicated track."Go to Oulton Park, go to one of the racetracks that we've got in the North West and do it safely and professionally on a proper racetrack," he said.Lancashire Constabulary said: "We always take reports of speeding and anti-social driving seriously and will carry out speed checks and have patrols in areas where concerns are raised."
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The Guardian
23 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Sinner's Wimbledon focus was unblinking on every point – Alcaraz is playing catch-up
With his hopes of a third consecutive Wimbledon title fading desperately with every point, Carlos Alcaraz sat in his chair on Centre Court after conceding the third set of his final with Jannik Sinner and unloaded his thoughts on his team: 'From the back of the court, he is much better than me. Much better than me! Much [better]! It's like this,' Alcaraz said, gesturing with his hands to demonstrate the vast gap between his greatest rival and himself. His assessment was not wrong. From a set down, Sinner put together a supreme performance to overturn five consecutive defeats against Alcaraz and win his first Wimbledon title, avenging the most difficult loss in his career – his French Open final defeat by Alcaraz in June – at the earliest opportunity. No one in the world strikes the ball with anything close to the destructive power, cleanliness, consistency that the Italian employs to dominate on the court and he used his incessant aggression to constantly rob time from his opponent, making it so difficult for him to impose his own varied game. Perhaps most notably, he pulled off the victory without making any fundamental changes to his approach. He continued to play the relentless brand of attacking tennis that has brought him success, smothering Alcaraz from the baseline. This time, he simply served far better in the decisive moments and he remained bold with his shot-making deep in the fourth set. The intensity, quality and unblinking focus Sinner brings on every single point was too much for Alcaraz, who this time could not find a miraculous pathway back into the match. Sinner has spent the past 18 months dominating all others. Before the final he had compiled a record of 81 wins and two defeats against players other than Alcaraz since November 2023, and four losses out of four against the Spanish player during that period. This result shifts the dynamics of their rivalry – now Alcaraz must keep up. Peaking spectacularly in the big moments is not enough. Beating Sinner in best-of-five-set matches now requires consistent, steady excellence across the course of a match with few letdowns. Things will only become more challenging. After achieving such a monumental result on one of Alcaraz's favourite surfaces, Sinner will return to his preferred hard courts more confident than ever before. In the early hours of Monday morning, after Sinner had left Centre Court, drunk champagne with his loved ones and then endured the two-hour plus media blitz reserved for all major champions, he was escorted to the five-star hotel Raffles London at the OWO for the annual Wimbledon champions dinner. By the time Sinner, 24 in August, made his appearance, well after midnight, he was in a slightly different mental state compared to the unrelenting focus he exuded on the court. 'We were drinking quite a lot in the last hours,' he said, smiling. 'A bit turning, the head, but it's all good.' Once an actual ball with the famed tradition of the men's and women's champions sharing the first dance of the night, Wimbledon's celebratory event is a low-key dinner these days and the two champions were interviewed by the former British No 1 Laura Robson. Over the past two years, however, the event has nodded to its history by orchestrating a dance on stage. After 1am on Monday, a smiling Iga Swiatek and Sinner could be found dancing awkwardly together to Feel Iit Still by Portugal. The Man. Towards the end of her interview, Swiatek was asked if she had ever considered offering up one solitary game to her opponent Amanda Anisimova, whom she thrashed in their final: 'I didn't,' she said after a long pause. 'But I think any athlete would understand that.' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Swiatek's 6-0, 6-0 win was a historic moment in the sport. However, it was also a simple reminder of the Pole's singular dominance. She has She has demolished almost every prominent player on the tour at some point and she had already inflicted a double bagel on a far more distinguished opponent in a significant final, doing the same to Karolina Pliskova, the former world No 1 who was ranked No 9, , in the 2021 Italian Open. A beatdown is always on the cards when Swiatek is in full flow. In comparison to the relief she felt after living up to expectations by maintaining her dominance on clay with three consecutive French Open titles, her sheer joy after winning Wimbledon, a title she never really expected to win, has been striking. This result has further allowed her to understand her potential and will almost certainly spur her on to even greater successes. Now one Australian Open away from the career grand slam, it is hard to imagine that Swiatek will not end her playing days having captured every major title possible.
The Independent
24 minutes ago
- The Independent
Focus on Gregg Wallace, Glastonbury and Gaza as BBC releases annual report
The BBC is to face questions on Gregg Wallace, its Glastonbury Festival coverage and the Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone documentary as it prepares to release its 2024/2025 annual report. The corporation will highlight its successes over the past year and disclose the pay of its top talent, but focus is likely to be on a storm of stories about the BBC's shows and coverage of live events. It comes after Ofcom announced it would investigate the BBC's Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone documentary after a review found it had breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy. The regulator said it had examined the BBC report and would be investigating under its broadcasting code, which states factual programmes 'must not materially mislead the audience'. The programme was removed from BBC iPlayer in February after it emerged that the child narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture. An Ofcom spokesperson said: 'Having examined the BBC's findings, we are launching an investigation under our rule which states that factual programmes must not materially mislead the audience.' The review, conducted by Peter Johnston, the director of editorial complaints and reviews, which is independent of BBC News, said the programme was in breach of accuracy for 'failing to disclose information about the child narrator's father's position within the Hamas-run government'. But the review found no other breaches of editorial guidelines, including breaches of impartiality, and also found no evidence that outside interests 'inappropriately impacted on the programme'. The BBC will also face scrutiny after a total of 45 out of the 83 allegations of misconduct made against former MasterChef presenter Wallace during his time on the show were substantiated, including one allegation of 'unwelcome physical contact', in a report following an investigation into his behaviour. On Monday, Wallace's MasterChef co-host John Torode confirmed he had a standalone allegation of racist language upheld in the same report. He said had 'no recollection of the incident' and was 'shocked and saddened' by the allegation in an Instagram post. In November 2024 the show's production company, Banijay UK, announced Wallace would step away from his role on the BBC cooking show while historical allegations of misconduct were investigated. The report concluded that the 'majority of the substantiated allegations against Mr Wallace related to inappropriate sexual language and humour', adding that 'a smaller number of allegations of other inappropriate language and being in a state of undress were also substantiated'. Also expected to be on the agenda is coverage of Glastonbury, which saw the broadcaster livestream a set by punk duo Bob Vylan, during which singer Bobby Vylan, whose real name is reportedly Pascal Robinson-Foster, led crowds in chants of 'death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)'. Director-general Tim Davie confirmed on Monday that staff at the festival had the authority to cut the stream Avon and Somerset Police have since launched an investigation into the group's set with the BBC issuing an apology for the live stream, and promising to no longer broadcast live acts they deem 'high risk' as they had with Bob Vylan in a pre-festival assessment. The Ipswich-formed duo, who are completed by drummer Bobbie Vylan, are also being investigated by the Met Police for alleged comments in a video of their performance supporting Iggy Pop at Alexandra Palace in May. In the video, Vylan appears to say: 'Death to every single IDF soldier out there as an agent of terror for Israel. Death to the IDF.' According to reports in The Times, the BBC's director of music Lorna Clarke was among a group of senior staff who have stepped back from their day-to-day roles after the broadcaster's decision to show Bob Vylan's set live. The salary of former Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker is expected to be included in the report, after he left his presenting role early following a social media row after he shared a post about Zionism which featured a depiction of a rat, historically an antisemitic insult. Lineker, who issued an unreserved apology, was the BBC's highest-paid presenter until his departure, with the annual report for 2023/24 showing his salary to be to around £1.35 million a year. The presenter will no longer front the BBC's coverage of the 2026 World Cup or the FA Cup next season, with his final appearance on Match Of The Day at the end of the last Premier League season. It comes as it was announced that Mr Davie and BBC chairman Samir Shah will face questions from MPs over the documentary, Wallace, and its Glastonbury coverage. The two will appear before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on September 9.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Labour not learning lessons from deaths of domestic abuse victims, report finds
The voices of women who have died at the hands of a partner or former partner are being ignored and the government is failing to heed warnings from their deaths, a damning report from the domestic abuse commissioner reveals today. An examination into how the government learns lessons from the deaths of domestic abuse victims has found that half of the national recommendations made in domestic homicide reviews (DHRs) are not put into action, with only a quarter fully implemented. The domestic abuse commissioner, Nicole Jacobs, told the Guardian that a study of DHRs – carried out whenever anyone over 16 is murdered in a domestic setting – revealed a 'deeply concerning' lack of oversight at the top of government. Between 2019 and 2021 DHRs made 110 national recommendations, the majority of which were for the Home Office. Of these only 25% were fully implemented, while a further 25% were deemed to be happening already, 21% were missing, 20% were partly met and 8% were not met. The report found that 'most shockingly' in the majority of cases government departments were not aware a recommendation had been made to them, and not a single one could confirm they had told the review's local authors about the action they had taken. Despite the value of DHRs, which were introduced in 2011, the report states: 'We currently have no idea the extent to which recommendations and action plans are being implemented on a national level. This is a huge opportunity missed.' Asked if the government was ignoring the voices of women who had been killed, Jacobs said: 'Yes, we're ignoring that tragedy. The whole point of these reviews is to shine a light on what is going wrong.' Jacobs said that in hundreds of meetings with the families of women who had been killed by domestic abusers, they all spoke of their desire to prevent further murders. Calling for more accountability and central oversight, she added: 'What we're saying at the moment is we're not willing to put in the work to make sure that we're doing everything we can so that no one else has to go through this.' The government's highly anticipated Violence Against Women strategy, part of Keir Starmer's pledge to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade, is expected in September. Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, has promised to tackle the 'scourge of femicide' and reduce the number of women killed by partners and former partners. But Jacobs said she worried that instead of a 'big vision' the government was employing a 'spending review strategy' and risked limiting itself to 'what was affordable right now'. She urged Starmer to take control in delivering the promise. 'The prime minister and the most senior people in government have got to stop – right now – and take a very hard look to see if their commitments are anywhere near where they need to be,' she said. 'This is the critical moment. It is now or never. This is going to be the period where they will either look back in 10 years and say that's when we made the decisions that really turned the tide on this or when the opportunity was missed.' Jacobs, who became the first person to hold the post in 2021 when it was created by the Domestic Abuse Act, already has concerns. Failing to put tackling VAWG at the heart of the government's 10-year plan for the NHS, launched this month was a missed opportunity, she said. Analysis shows that the NHS has more contact with victims and perpetrators than any other public service, but a recent report concluded that the health service is failing victims by not training staff. 'When the VAWG strategy is published later this year it must link more closely to the NHS plan to make sure the NHS plays its part in keeping victims and survivors safe,' said Jacobs. Before the review Jacobs – who knows the pressure of the frontline having run a domestic abuse services for 20 years – said it was time for cash-strapped services dealing with abuse victims to get core funding from the government, in the same way that the Domestic Abuse Act imposed a duty on local authorities to provide refuges. Last year a slew of women's charities wrote to Starmer to warn him that funding cuts and rising costs would have 'dire consequences' for victims of domestic and sexual violence and put the government's mission to halve violence against females 'in jeopardy'. 'When those services are not there victims die, are severely harmed and suffer lifelong impacts,' said Jacobs. 'There is a tragic human cost to that but an economic cost as well.' A spokesperson for the Home Office said it did a public consultation on DHR in 2024 and was looking at the statutory guidance underpinning the recommendations to ensure 'a more effective process'. Phillips said: 'My thoughts are with the family and friends of those who have lost a loved one to domestic homicide. Every single death is a tragedy, and more needs to be done to ensure domestic homicide reviews are effective and timely. 'A new oversight board with publicly-appointed members and training for review chairs would make sure recommendations went to the right person, and lessons were learned. We cannot afford to have recommendations lost.'
