Latest news with #Yorkshire
BBC News
28 minutes ago
- Health
- BBC News
Cleethorpes beachgoers share thoughts on smoking ban
A survey by campaign group Action on Smoking and Health shows public support for smoke-free beaches. People on Cleethorpes beach had mixed Gorski puffs on a from his own house, it's one of the few places he can legally enjoy a a YouGov survey suggest significant support in Yorkshire and the Humber for smoke-free beaches. A total of 1,125 people were surveyed, of which 61% would back a ban. As waves lap the golden sands on the Lincolnshire beach, Maciej offers his says: "There's a time and place to do it and if you can't do it on a beach it should be a designated area somewhere."I remember when you could smoke in pubs, now you can't do it and people got used to it. It's just another place you can't do it."However, despite being a smoker himself, Steve Granger says he agrees with the ban."Yes, we are smoking now but I'll make sure it goes into an ashtray or a bin rather than just throw it away on a beach," he says."Especially when there are children about. If people just throw their cigarette still lit on the beach, nobody knows who can step in it." Although Jayne Fitzpatrick supports the smoking ban, she believes vaping should still be allowed."I don't think you should smoke cigarettes because I think it's a lot of smell and it's got the hot end and you could burn the children," she says."But I don't think they [vapes] should be banned because they can't harm any children or anybody walking by but the cigarettes would if they put them out on the floor and they didn't go out."While there is currently no ban on smoking on beaches in Lincolnshire, two beaches in East Sussex have already become voluntary smoke-free spaces. Simon Clark, director of pro-smoking group Forest, thinks the ban is "absolutely ridiculous".He says: "Of course smokers should be considerate to people in their immediate vicinity but there is absolutely no justification for a ban on smoking on beaches because there is no health risk to anybody apart from the smoker themselves."Forest encourages smokers to use pocket ashtrays and for local authorities to provide more cigarette bins in public spaces. 'Eager for action' According to the Office for National Statistics, six million adults smoke, but the number is 2007, England banned smoking in all enclosed public areas, including pubs and restaurants. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is currently going through Parliament and plans to extend the indoor smoking ban to outdoor areas like schools, children's playgrounds and 1 July, France will ban smoking in all outdoor areas commonly used by children, including beaches, parks, school areas, bus stops and sports March 2024, Benllech and Trearddur Bay became the first smoke-free beaches in Wales with others also introducing a voluntary smoking Crosby, associate director for the Humber and North Yorkshire Centre for Excellence in Tobacco Control, says: "We need bold, continued action to prevent uptake, help smokers quit and reduce harm."The survey clearly shows the public is not only on board – they're eager for more action to make it happen." Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
BBC News
an hour ago
- Business
- BBC News
Scarborough Athletic lay out plans to tackle financial losses
Scarborough Athletic face a projected loss of about £150,000 for the upcoming season, the club has shortfall is as a result of being forced to play home games in Bridlington, after works to repair damage to their pitch and ground meant it would be out of action for about a a statement, the Seadogs' board said unknowns meant working out future revenues was "extremely difficult".The National League North side's Sports Village home has been hit by "serious structural problems" but an expected repair bill of up to £3.2m would be covered by the council if talks with the original contractor failed. The fan-owned club said it feared that attendances, which had increased from about 400 to 1400 over the last three seasons, would be affected by the forced move to Bridlington Town's Mounting Systems loss of ticket revenue would also be aggravated by the loss of catering and hospitality income, which Bridlington Town would receive under the groundshare club, which football finance expert Kieran Maguire said generated an annual profit of about £80,000 last year, had created a fundraiser which has so far generated approximately £60k in expected plus other donations had slashed the shortfall from an initial £250,000, the club Maguire said the loss of revenue under the groundshare was a "possible cause of concern" but added: "The club will need to maximise the revenue from every single item available". Scarborough chairman Trevor Bull said the club was working on options to provide transport to games in confirmed the club was communicating with Network Rail and coach firm East Yorkshire Motor Services over a deal to supply discounted travel. Mr Bull said if they could get more than 1,000 fans to games down the coast that would "help reduce the deficit further".North Yorkshire Council and the original contractors remain in dialogue over when the work to repair the Scarborough Sports Village will is currently no start date. Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Times
an hour ago
- Sport
- Times
England vs India live: scores and updates from first Test day one
Elizabeth Ammon at Headingley KL Rahul got off the mark in unconvincing fashion trying to drive a full-length ball and getting a thick edge through the vacant gully region. There's definitely some movement in the air, which is encouraging for England. There's a full house at Headingley today, it's sold out for the first three days in fact. Elizabeth Ammon at Headingley Chris Woakes is opening up from the Kirskstall Lane end and England are on the attack early — four slips and a wide gully and there's some early away swing. The sun is trying to break through the haze and the Barmy Army have broken into their traditional early rendition of Jerusalem. The first boundary of the day comes as Jaiswal edges one with controlled hands through third man. Brydon Carse will take the new ball from the Rugby Ground end. Yashasvi Jaiswal (averaging a fairly peachy 52.88) takes his guard as Chris Woakes takes the new ball from the Kirkstall Lane end. A solid forward defensive meets a ball from a good length, and the series is officially under way! Elizabeth Ammon at Headingley Brendon McCullum is a good man to have in charge in a series against India. In his time as a player his Test career average of 38 climbs to 68 against India, with four centuries in ten Tests. He says he always viewed India as just about the greatest challenge and that he stepped his game up against them — hitting a double century and a triple century against the side for New Zealand in the 2014 two-match Test series. Decent stats. Here's how the visiting side will line up. There's a debut for Sai Sudharsan at No3 and the long-awaited return of Karun Nair, a triple centurion against England who played his most recent Test in March 2017. 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 KL Rahul, 3 B Sai Sudharsan, 4 Shubman Gill (capt), 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Karun Nair, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Prasidh Krishna, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj. Elizabeth Ammon at Headingley England have won the toss and will bowl first, as predicted by Steve Harmison and Jeremy Coney below. It's hazy but hot, but it's likely to do a bit today and flatten out tomorrow. There are some storms predicted tomorrow but only isolated ones. There has only been one drawn Test here in the past 11, against South Africa in 2012. Mike Atherton, at Headingley There is no question Ben Stokes has transformed the England team. In outlook and attitude it is totally different from the one he inherited, more assertive and confident in every way, but they still lack a significant scalp. This summer against India and the winter down under both provide that opportunity, which has been greeted with a subtle shift in language and emphasis. 'It's about winning,' Stokes said on the eve of the first Test at Headingley. To do that, Stokes will have to be at his best as a player. Because of his dominant personality and radical approach as a leader, we sometimes overlook the importance of his performances on the field, but it is time for him to remind everyone again what a good cricketer he is. The balance he brings to the team is crucial, and there is no one else in the country who can hold down that role as a top-six batsman and frontline bowler. ● Read in full: Ben Stokes has lifted England as a leader — now they need the all-rounder Elizabeth Ammon, at Headingley Both teams will wear black armbands on day one of the match as a mark of respect for those who lost their lives in the Air India plane crash last week in Ahmedabad. A moment's silence will be observed prior to the respective national anthems. Elizabeth Ammon, at Headingley We haven't had a Test here at Headingley since 2023 and since then some new furniture has arrived on the players balcony. We've got a couple of parasols, which are going to be much needed today. It's going to be a scorcher. Elizabeth Ammon, at Headingley Good morning from Headingley where it is warm but a bit hazy overhead. The pitch looks like a belter but I've just had a chat with Steve Harmison and Jeremy Coney, who are commentating for talkSPORT and they both said that they think if England win the toss they might bowl — it will do a bit day one, it flattens out from day two and England like to chase. The players are out on the field, some doing yoga, some in the nets, some doing not very much. A reminder of the England team taking to the field today, and the series details. England XI Z Crawley, B Duckett, O Pope, J Root, H Brook, B Stokes (c), J Smith (wk), C Woakes, B Carse, J Tongue, S Bashir It's been a long time coming but England's five-Test series with India is finally upon us. It's the start of a defining stretch for Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes' Bazball project — as they are happy to admit — with the Ashes to come this winter, and India will make for fascinating opposition. The retirements of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin mean this is a very different team arriving on English shores, and it is the new captain, Shubman Gill, charged with leading this relatively inexperienced group. Join Elizabeth Ammon for all the updates from Headingley today.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Everywhere assisted dying is introduced, the safeguards never prove effective
The emotion of watching the progress of the assisted dying Bill through Parliament will differ for every person watching it. For some, it will elicit grief or perhaps fear. For others, hope. For me, watching from afar, it's déjà vu. Before assisted dying was legalised in New Zealand three and a half years ago, it was me speaking in Parliament against its passage. And the debate here is all too spookily reminiscent of what we saw. We, like British MPs, were promised that the eligibility criteria would be tight and that claims of a slippery slope were a 'fallacy'. My work on this issue began when I chaired the New Zealand Parliament's Health Committee inquiry into assisted dying. It was the largest inquiry ever undertaken by the New Zealand parliament and was our nation's most detailed public discussion on this topic. Again and again, I asked questions and probed for the details of how proposed safeguards, which promised to ensure no mistakes were made, would in fact do so. Each time, I was assured that the laws would function to ensure horror cases simply could not occur, that the criteria would never be relaxed, and that this law would be the safest in the world. Listening now to the UK debate, the lines from supporters here are redolent of what I heard back then. Kim Leadbeater, were it not for her broad Yorkshire tones, could well play a Kiwi parliamentarian, breezily dismissing the concerns voiced by my Committee and me. And, if the language matches closely, the proposed 'safeguards' are near-identical. Central to the safeguards in the Kiwi law was the introduction of a body called: 'The End of Life Review Committee'. It broadly mirrors Leadbeater's proposals for a supervisory review body following the removal of the High Court safeguard. In New Zealand, three experts – two health practitioners and one medical ethicist – sit on this Committee. Their role was to review assisted deaths and to scrutinise complex cases where something may have gone wrong. But things did not work out as they were supposed to. One of the Committee's original members resigned over serious concerns about its ability to supervise the implementation of assisted suicide and euthanasia. Another member was pushed out, it is thought, because she was raising too many concerns about the operation of the new law. Two out of three members were gone. Both subsequently went public and stated that the Committee's oversight of the law was so limited that wrongful deaths could go undetected. They said they were 'extremely concerned' about how little information they received relating to patients' deaths, leading to them feeling 'constrained to the point of irrelevance'. In one deeply troubling case, the Review Committee was able to establish that a dementia patient, who did not speak English, was approved for assisted dying despite not having an interpreter present for their assessment. The New Zealand experience is closely mirrored in every country where similar laws have been introduced in recent years. In our Antipodean neighbour, Australia, several states have legalised assisted dying in the last few years. Queensland's law was said to have taken extra time to progress through parliament to make sure the law would guarantee that every death was 'truly voluntary', 'without coercion', and with the strictest safeguards. In fact, patients there have killed themselves with others' drugs and, in a scathing judgement, a coroner ruled that it was in fact 'not a well-considered law', but rather had 'inadequate' safeguards that had taken just '107 days to be exposed'. In another case, a woman appeared in court last week, charged with her husband's murder, having admitted to her family that she had administered him three lethal doses of drugs after he told doctors he wanted to 'go on' rather than die via assisted dying. She denies murder, and the case continues. Meanwhile, Oregon – one of the first jurisdictions to legalise assisted dying – has seen its eligibility criteria stretched to include patients with anorexia, diabetes, or arthritis. Around half of those opting for assisted suicide now cite feeling like a 'burden' on others as a motivating factor. None of the parliamentarians voting for those laws did so believing that they were dangerous. In New Zealand, my colleagues certainly did not do so. They had repeatedly been assured that the safeguards were absolute, inviolable, and complete. But, if the experience of those who have passed these laws is anything to go by, British parliamentarians should think very carefully before passing the assisted dying Bill. Safeguards so often promised have proven so rarely effective. If British MPs are not certain that they will work here, my urgent advice, having seen this play out before, would be to reject this Bill today.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Luke Littler hits back at MBE jibe from former world champion
Darts sensation Luke Littler has reacted to former world champion Dennis Priestley, after he rubbished the awarding of an MBE to the 18-year-old. Littler won the 2025 World Darts Championship at the age of 17, becoming the tournament's youngest winner just a year after making the final as a 16 year old. His success has raised the profile of darts around the country, aided by his burgeoning rivalry with 30-year-old Luke Humphries who beat Littler in that 2024 final. Priestley, however, was not impressed with the pair being awarded MBEs in the King's Birthday Honours. Speaking to the Daily Express, the two-time world champion said: 'To be brutally honest, I don't think either Luke Littler or Luke Humphries have done enough to earn their MBEs just yet.' Priestley, nicknamed 'The Menace' during his career won the BDO world title in 1991 before claiming the WDC (which is now the PDC) prize three years later. Littler took to Instagram to reply to the 74-year-old Yorkshireman, and wrote: "Doesn't deserve an MBE but done more in 12 months than he ever did... that's what I would say anyway." His Instagram story has since been deleted. Priestley had said: "I think in time they could've done enough to warrant it but it feels very early, they have both won one World Championship each and are still young in their careers. 'Littler has been recognised for raising the popularity of darts which is great, but he can still do so much more. 'If he is getting an MBE this soon then you'd have to think he is on the right path to a knighthood, nothing would surprise me now.' Favourites for the tournament, Littler and Humphries were dumped out of the recent World Cup of Darts in their first match, losing to the German team in Frankfurt. The Northern Ireland pair of Daryl Gurney and Josh Rock went on to win the title, beating Wales' Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton in the final 10-9.
