Headlines: 'Divisive football kit' and '10km cave discovery'
Our pick of local website stories
Somerset Live reported on a man who was seen killing baby gulls with an umbrella in Bath. Avon & Somerset Police released a CCTV image in the hope it would help identify him.Disappointment that the splash park is still shut at Coate Water is getting a lot of clicks for The Swindon Advertiser.Weston Mercury reported North Somerset Council removing some public comments about mosque expansion plans from its website due to their "racist" nature. The local branch of Reform UK has accused the council of "censorship".
Our top three from yesterday
Drug-smuggling footballer signed after prison termForest Green Rovers reveal new vegan kit inspired by natureCaving team discover 'dream' 10km network under Forest of Dean
What to watch on social media
A planning application being granted to demolish the former New Look in Salisbury for flats is getting lots of comments in this local group.Wiltshire Council has voted to continue in its aim to make the county carbon neutral by 2030. A motion put forward by Reform UK councillors called for the council not to be "constrained by unachievable county-wide 2030 carbon reduction targets", but this was rejected.The 19th Century font cover at Tewkesbury Abbey has been successfully removed so it can be taken away and restored. The structure has become extremely fragile over the years.
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BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Somerset dog experience: 'My birthday gift unknowingly funded dog abuse'
A women who was gifted a voucher for a viral golden retriever petting experience said she's "distraught" after "unknowingly funding" mistreatment of Briers, from Nottingham, got a £125 voucher for the now closed down viral Golden Retriever Experience in West Somerset near Minehead for her site offered play and petting sessions with around 30 dogs to paying visitors but the owner was recently banned from keeping dogs for 10 years after some of the animals died in his care.A spokesperson for the Golden Retriever Experience said: "There has been a high volume of enquiries regarding gift cards, and we are currently assessing the situation." The experience, which garnered millions of views on social media - had its licence revoked by Somerset Council following a police and RSPCA investigation in May animal charity said the dogs were kept in unclean and overcrowded conditions, with little access to fresh Briers said she "felt sick to the stomach" after finding out about the ban."As an animal lover, who's owned four rescue dogs, the fact that the £125 contributed to and enabled them to abuse the dogs," she said."It's been devastating to see what happened to these poor dogs."It's not about getting the refund, it's what the money has enabled them to do. I feel complicit in the abuse of these poor dogs."Ms Briers was gifted the voucher for the golden retriever experience in Somerset in October 2022 for her birthday by work colleagues. After a family emergency, Ms Briers was unable to book within the 12 months limit so she emailed the company and they responded "not to worry" about the expiry date and get in touch at a later the website for the now defunct Golden Retriever Experience, in it's Terms and Conditions it says gift cards are non-refundable. Nicolas St James, 62, was handed an 18-week prison sentence, suspended for one year, at North Somerset Magistrates' Court in Weston-super-Mare earlier this month.A spokesperson for the attraction added on gift voucher refunds that they're "unable to comment further pending legal advice".
The Sun
11 hours ago
- The Sun
Tech sec Peter Kyle should apologise for calling Farage a nonce-enabler – then make the move that WILL protect our kids
OUR wildly unpopular Government has decided to get down and dirty. Rather than come up with ideas to make our lives a bit bloody easier, it has resorted to disgusting smears against opponents. 8 8 The Onlife Safety Act — a genuinely awful piece of legislation — seeks to persuade hi-tech companies to be a bit more rigorous about who they show their porn and other nasty images to. It will not work. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, has said as much. And he pledged to repeal the act if Reform wins the next election. Which is looking increasingly likely. This provoked Technology Secretary Peter Kyle to suggest that Farage was 'on the side of' Jimmy Savile. An insane accusation and one Kyle has refused to withdraw. Kyle's actual words were these: 'Make no mistake about it, if people like Jimmy Savile were alive today, he would be perpetrating his crimes online — and Nigel Farage is saying that he is on their side, not the side of children.' What an odious comment — but it was repeated a little later by the dim-witted Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander. So what Labour is saying, in short, is this: if you disagree with their stupid Onlife Safety Act, you're little better than a nonce. You're a nonce enabler. Nigel Farage was rightly furious. Here's the thing. The act is a disgrace. It hands the power to hi-tech companies and penalises the small online sites. And it will do little or nothing to stop kids getting hold of gruesome images. It will also erode freedom of speech. And increase censorship for adults. It is a chilling piece of legislation. And it has already been rubbished by both the Left, in The New Statesman, and the Right, in the Daily Telegraph. Tech Secretary left 'shocked to the core' after visiting crack team hunting down child abuse images There is, however, one failsafe way to make sure kids are safe from revolting images. Stop children having smartphones. Ban them from kids 16 years and younger. Something similar is to be tried in Australia, where under-16s will be banned from social media later this year. Labour says it is not going to do that. Peter Kyle has rejected the proposal. And you know why he's done that, don't you? It's because he, like the ludicrous Heidi Alexander, is a nonce enabler. He would actively help Jimmy Savile nonce the kids. There, how do you like that, Mr Kyle? That's what happens when you crawl into the political gutter. You meet horrible people like me. People who are prepared to stick the boot in and not worry. Nonce enablers People who will say stuff like this: if Kyle opposes my bill to ban smartphones from kids he is worse than Rosemary West and Hitler combined. And he probably hangs around infant schools with a bag of sherbet lemons and some puppies. You see, Kyle? It isn't only disgusting to make such accusations. It's also totally and utterly ludicrous. But it's particularly ludicrous and, indeed, hypocritical when it comes from Labour. Because the party is led by Sir Keir Starmer. And when Sir Keir Starmer was doing his previous job as Director of Public Prosecutions, it decided against charging Jimmy Savile. So you might have a point in saying that Starmer was 'on the side of' Jimmy Savile. Think again, Peter Kyle. Apologise to Farage and withdraw the comment. And when you've done that, withdraw the Online Safety Act. FEELING THE PINCH, CERYS? I'M sorry that the comedian Cerys Nelmes is upset. It's not nice to be upset. She's worried she may be put behind bars in Turkey for alleged shoplifting. Apparently, she left the Zara store in Istanbul having 'forgotten to pay' for an item. How refreshing it is that the Turks take apparent shoplifting seriously. And that Cerys could get three years in a prison like the one in Midnight Express. PM'S SO WRONG ON GAZA 8 IN promising to 'recognise' Palestine, Sir Keir Starmer has shed his very last vestige of principle. It is a wholly cosmetic exercise designed to appease the morons on his back benches. It will do nothing whatsoever to help the Palestinians. It offers not the slightest encouragement for the feral savages of Hamas to hand back the hostages. All it does is enrage the US and Israel. And what exactly is it that Starmer is pledging to recognise? The Hamas-governed Gaza Strip? But the Government has already proscribed Hamas as a terrorist organisation. There is, at present, no Palestinian state. Just chunks of territory ruled over by extremists. It is a truly shocking decision which will cause many, many problems down the line. CARMEN HAVE A GO THEN 8 SO, well done you tenacious Lionesses. They proved that they are incredibly difficult to beat. And also that they are not as useless at penalties as most of the other countries. I enjoyed the tournament, even if the quality of football was sometimes hilariously bad. It all works, though, if you don't keep comparing it with the men's game. It was also hugely pleasing to beat the Spanish. They are very bad losers and their petulant strop at Chloe Kelly cheered me up no end. A bit of grace in defeat wouldn't go amiss, senoritas. Meanwhile, my lot are away to Norwich next Saturday. The season is at last starting. And so Christmas can't be far away. A FOOL ENGLISH THERE were two stories which made me sit up this week. The first was that the average person now pays to the Government 57 per cent of their income in tax. This is all the result of hidden levies such as VAT, stamp duty, National Insurance, capital gains tax and a whole load of other stuff. There are 37 levies on top of income tax. We are now being taxed at the highest rate since the Second World War. And the other story? A picture of the breakfast buffet that illegal asylum seekers are provided with, at our expense, in one of their hotels. Would you like your eggs scrambled or poached, Asif? Coming right up. Along with bacon, sausage, hash browns, baked beans and black pudding. I couldn't see if they had mushrooms or not. Or waffles. If they're in Richmond upon Thames, by the way, they also get free membership of gyms to work off that full English. You wonder where our money goes? Here's an answer for you. MESSER 'N' MRS WE'RE moving house. I come home of an evening and see my wife licking the skirting boards clean. I can't find anything because it's all been hidden so that potential buyers think we don't have clutter. The final straw came at the weekend. Me and the dog were banished from the house 'for the foreseeable future'. That's because we make things messy. One of us drops fur all over the carpet and farts continually – and the dog's even worse. Houses always look good when nobody is in them. That's my wife's way of thinking. 'Nobody wants to look around a house when there's a lardy lummox lying on the sofa watching re-runs of Impossible.' I'll let you know when I'm allowed back in. I HAVE no idea where Tommy Robinson is. He has supposedly fled the country after allegedly punching a bloke at a Tube station. I have no idea if that's what he did. And still less about whatever it was that may have provoked him. But consider this. What chance do you think Robinson stood of a fair trial, for whatever he did or didn't do? They'd throw away the key, wouldn't they? WHAT proportion of muggings in London do you suppose are solved by the Old Bill? The answer is five per cent – or one in 20. Muggings are a serious crime. They make people afraid to go out of their homes. And muggers are encouraged because 95 per cent of them are going to get away with it. Don't you think it's time the Met Police started taking its duties seriously? And focused on solving serious crime? Instead of being obsessed with what people say to each other on social media?
Powys County Times
12 hours ago
- Powys County Times
Long-serving ex-Tory MP Adam Holloway joins Reform
Another former Conservative MP has announced that he has joined Reform UK, saying it is the only party that has grasped 'the scale of our national peril'. Adam Holloway, who represented Gravesham in Kent between 2005 and 2024, said on Wednesday he had become the latest ex-MP to join Nigel Farage's party. The 59-year-old former Army officer said: 'There comes a moment for many soldiers – and most politicians – when you realise the battle you think you're fighting isn't the one your leaders are waging. 'That moment came for me watching Kemi Badenoch tell Trevor Phillips there are real differences between Reform UK and the Conservatives. She was right. 'The difference is the Reform leadership and voters grasp the scale of our national peril and back a party serious about addressing it.' Mr Holloway is at least the eighth former Tory MP to have joined Reform since the last election, following former party chairman Sir Jake Berry, former Wales secretary David Jones and Dame Andrea Jenkyns, who won the Greater Lincolnshire mayoralty for the party in May. Having served in the Grenadier Guards for five years, including during the Gulf War, Mr Holloway worked as a journalist for ITV and ITN before his election to Parliament in 2005. A strong supporter of Brexit, he was briefly a whip under Boris Johnson and Liz Truss and was one of six Tory MPs to vote against censuring Mr Johnson after he was found to have misled the Commons over the Partygate scandal. He was himself reprimanded by Parliament's standards watchdog after improperly attempting to prevent the release of a character reference he had provided for former Tory colleague Charlie Elphicke, who was jailed for two years in 2020 for sexual assault. He lost his seat in last year's general election, falling 2,712 votes behind Labour's Lauren Sullivan. During the campaign, he told voters that backing Reform was 'effectively taking a vote from me' and 'helping Labour'. Mr Farage said he was 'delighted' to welcome Mr Holloway to the party, saying his parliamentary and military experience would be 'vital' ahead of the next election. He added: 'His bold move shows that we are the only serious option in Kent and is testament to the fantastic work our councillors are delivering across the region.'
