Innovation

A reality TV star has opened up about how figuring out his sexuality made him feel "like a burden in the world".

"I used to hold everything to my chest and show a fake face and a smile [while] inside I was crumbling," said Jake Devline-Reed, 29, from Swansea, who was a contestant on BBC Three's I Kissed a Boy in 2023.

Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or a minority sexual orientation are more than twice as at risk of self-harm and suicide than heterosexual people.

Mr Devline-Reed has teamed up with not-for-profit men's mental health organisation Helpu to launch a new online support group to help gay and bisexual men across Wales.

"When I was in school, I used to get bullied for being chubby and my lisp, my dyslexia, and I got bullied when my dad passed away," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

"I struggled with my own mental health as a kid, finding healthy ways to manage my insecurities with gardening, walking, hiking, stuff like that.

"School is a bit brutal, especially when you're hitting puberty, not knowing what's happening next and not knowing your own sexuality as well.

"At one point, I reached that dark path where I felt like a burden in the world, felt like I didn't belong."

Folk band The Wurzels have released a new single written by artificial intelligence (AI) called Wurzel Me Up.

The Somerset band, best known for songs such as The Combine Harvester and I Am A Cider Drinker, said they had decided to use the technology as they had not written a song for a while.

Singer Pete Budd, 84, said: "We realised that it was a long time since we had written a new pop tune. We needed some 'cutting-hedge' technology."

The band's longest-serving member, Tommy Banner, 85, added: "We decided to explore this new artificial world to see if it could help us analyse our catalogue of Wurzel songs and give us some lyrical inspiration for a new release."

A charity has called for the government to commit to a date when plastic will be banned in wet wipes, to help prevent the effect they are having on the River Thames.

Thames21 says wet wipes are not only creating artificial islands, harming wildlife and impacting water quality; they are reshaping the waterway itself.

The charity said although plans were announced last year to ban the sale of plastic wet wipes, progress had halted following the general election.

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: "Plastic wet wipes clog up our sewers, pollute our waterways and harm our treasured wildlife. That is why the government will ban them."

Liz Gyekye from Thames21 said: "Wet wipes are a massive problem, it's devastating.

"The principal challenge is that people flush the wet wipes down the toilets, then you get sewage overflows after heavy rain that chuck them into the river.

"They then destroy wildlife because it ingests these microplastics when they break down."

Ms Gyekye said the charity wanted the government to act "urgently".

"We had the previous Conservative government last year commit to banning plastic in wet wipes, and now we're calling on this government to implement this ban," she said.

Asked why the public were still flushing wet wipes despite the obvious damage being caused, Ms Gyekye said: "I think the issue is over labels – some labels say they are 'flushable' – but there is no marine biodegradable standard out there – so they should all just go in the bin."

She added: "Consumers need to do their part and dispose of their waste correctly, flushing down only the 3 Ps (pee, poo, and paper)."

The director of sustainability at the Port of London Authority (PLA), Grace Rawnsley, said the new Thames super sewer "should help" cope with flushed wet wipes, but said the ban on plastic in wet wipes was "key" to achieving a cleaner river.

Volunteer Janice Bruce-Brande said that although the wet wipe island she was surveying was "soul destroying", she had noticed a possible improvement since the introduction of the super sewer.

But she said it was still "so disheartening" to see the wet wipe problem.

'We will ban them'

In response to Thames21's calls, a Defra spokesperson told the BBC: "Plastic wet wipes clog up our sewers, pollute our waterways and harm our treasured wildlife.

"That is why the government will ban them.

"This is part of our wider plan to clean up our rivers. We have passed our landmark Water Act, introducing two-year prison sentences for polluting water bosses, and banning unfair million-pound bonuses."

Formal approval has been given to plans to build 93 new homes on a meadow, despite more than 500 objections.

Councillors at Fenland District Council agreed nearly two years ago to approve the development at Wenny Meadow, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, but official permission has only now been given after the agreement of conditions and financial contributions.

The 93 homes are set to include four five-bedroom houses, 25 four-bedroom houses, 40 three-bedroom houses, 20 two-bedroom houses, and four one-bedroom flats.

They are proposed to be part of a wider development to the east of the town of around 350 homes.

In planning documents submitted to the district council, the developer said it would "provide a large amount of public open space incorporating a [play area], ecological benefits including the creation of new habitat, as well as economic benefits including increases in local expenditure and support for jobs both directly and indirectly through the proposed development."

However, the project was met with backlash from people in Chatteris, with 551 formal objections lodged against the plans.

The application was recommended for approval by planning officers, who said: "By providing a new community with accessible open and green space, in a high-quality environment, with easy access to local services, the scheme will make a valuable contribution to improving the overall health of the local community."

When the application was considered by councillors in July 2023, they ultimately agreed to approve the plans, subject to the agreement of conditions and financial contributions.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, an update report published by the district council in April recognised a "significant amount of time" had passed since that planning committee meeting.

It said amendments to some conditions had been made and financial contributions from the developer towards services in the town had now been agreed.

Officers said they still recommended the plans should be approved and the district council has now agreed to formally grant planning permission for the development.

In the wide-ranging interview, which will be broadcast on Tuesday, Lineker also discussed his footballing career, his son's leukemia battle as a baby, and his views on gambling sponsorship in sports.

Lineker said the football industry should rethink its responsibility when it comes to taking money from gambling firms.

"I know people [for whom] it becomes an addiction, it can completely destroy their lives," he said.

"There's talk about taking [logos] off the shirts, but you see it on the boards around the ground everywhere.

"I think football needs a long, hard look at itself about that, I really do."

On top of his presenting roles, Lineker is also the co-founder of Goalhanger Podcasts, which make the successful The Rest is History series and its spin-offs about Politics, Football, Entertainment and Money.

The 64-year-old indicated to Rajan his next career move "won't be more telly", adding: "I think I'll step back from that now.

"I think I'll probably focus more on the podcast world, because it's such a fun business and it's just been so incredible."

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A collection of rare documents by World War Two codebreaker Alan Turing have been saved for the nation.

Last year, a temporary export bar was placed on the wartime project writings to prevent them being taken abroad.

A successful campaign was launched to keep the papers on home soil, which were described by the government as some of Turing's most "inventive, secret, and overlooked work".

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has announced that the documents will join the largest collection of Turing artefacts at King's College, Cambridge.

"This is a powerful example of what can be achieved when private and charitable sectors come together," she said.

"This collaboration has ensured that these treasures will be preserved for years to come."

In the UK, significant cultural objects require a licence to be exported.

Items considered too important to leave can be placed under a temporary export ban, which allows British buyers time to raise funds to purchase the items instead.

Once digitised, they will become part of the Turing Papers online archive, freely available to scholars.

The papers, valued at more than £397,000, relate to the Delilah project, which developed a portable encryption system – or voice scrambler – to protect secrets during military operations.

Turing worked on the project at Hanslope Park, near Milton Keynes, in 1943 following his groundbreaking work on the Enigma machines at Bletchley Park.

The documents consist of more than 40 pages of unpublished notes written by Turing and colleague Donald Bayley.

Unpublished evidence of Turing's work has rarely survived.

The project to save the documents was led by the Friends of the Nations' Libraries charity.

Other donors included the National Heritage Memorial Fund and King's College.

The algorithmic trading firm XTX Markets donated £250,000.

King's College provost Gillian Tett said: "Alan Turing's work laid the foundations of computer science, artificial intelligence and much of our modern world.

"We are honoured to house the Delilah papers at King's and are deeply grateful to our partners in this endeavour."

Turing arrived at King's College as an undergraduate in 1931 and was made a fellow in 1935.

The Turing Archive was founded in 1960 following a donation of his papers by his mother, Sara Turing.

Turing died of cyanide poisoning in June 1954. His death was thought to be suicide.

Worcestershire County Council slipped into no overall control after Thursday's election with no party having a majority of councillors.

Reform UK were the significant winners after the votes were counted as they now have 27 seats, two short of the number needed for overall control.

The big losers were the Conservatives, who went from 45 councillors to 12.

Here are three takeaways from the election:

Reform's rout of the Tories

Almost every seat in the county was affected in some way by the swing towards Reform.

Before this set of elections the relatively new party had never won a seat in the county; now it is the largest party with 27 councillors.

Twenty-six of those gains – based off the 2021 results – were from the Conservatives.

Before polling day, Reform candidates were optimistic but this result has far exceeded their expectations.

Two seats short of an overall majority, they now face a decision – form a minority administration and try to go it alone or find a partner to run the county council with.

Dead Heat

The most dramatic moment of these elections came in the rural Littletons division, where the Green and Reform candidates had a dead heat – both on 889 votes.

This meant a ballot was drawn with both their names being placed into a box and one drawn at random.

Green candidate Hannah Robson's name came out, meaning she took seat from the Tories.

She acknowledged it was not the ideal way to decide a vote but "that's what we have to work with".

Good day for the Greens

If these elections were evidence voters were disenchanted with the two main Westminster parties, Worcestershire's Greens were the other clear winners.

The party now has eight seats on the county council, five more than in 2021.

They managed to cement their strong position in Worcester itself, with music teacher and parliamentary candidate Tor Pingree defeating the Conservative council leader Simon Geraghty.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after two people were stabbed in Bradford.

Officers were called to Seymour Street, off Leeds Road, at about 22:15 BST on Sunday and two men were taken to hospital, with one man's injuries described as "serious".

West Yorkshire Police said the 36-year-old arrested man remains in custody, with investigations continuing.

The second injured man's injuries were described as not life-threatening, with a damaged vehicle found at the scene seized by officers.

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A council has spent £4.56m on 66 agency workers in the 2024/25 financial year with many needed to work in social care.

The figures were shared at a Wiltshire Council committee and were lower than the previous financial year, with a high of £8m in 2018/19 according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Wiltshire Council said they spent less compared to similar local authorities and without the agency workers there would be impacts on service users and the wider Wiltshire community.

The council has just approved a new three-year contract for agency workers too, with the option to extend for a further 12 months, at an estimated cost of £20m over four years.

The £4.65m equates to around £75,000 per agency worker, which would be well above the average council pay of £35,000.

However, the council said when it comes to agency hiring "a simple average does not accurately reflect the true cost of these roles."

Even those within the separatist movement have different ideas on how best to achieve their goals.

Lorna Guitton, a born-and-bred Albertan and a volunteer with the Alberta Prosperity Project, told the BBC in Lethbridge that her aim was for the province to have a better relationship with the rest of Canada.

She described the current union as "broken", and believes a referendum, or the threat of it, will give Albertans "leverage" in future negotiations with Ottawa.

But Ms Guitton also dismissed any notion of it becoming a 51st US state.

"They've got enough of their own problems. Why would I want to be part of that?" she said. "I would rather be my own independent, sovereign province, or a province with a better deal in Canada."

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At his ranch outside of Calgary in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Mr Rath has a different view.

As he tended to his race horses, he spoke of the political and social attitudes of free enterprise and small government that are shared by Albertans and many Americans.

"From that perspective, I would see Alberta as being a good fit within the United States," he said.

He is currently putting together a "fact-finding" delegation to travel to Washington DC and bring the movement directly to the Trump administration.

Many voters in Alberta, however, dismiss the notion of independence altogether, even if they agree that the province has been overlooked.

Steve Lachlan from Lethbridge agrees the West lacks representation in Ottawa but said: "We already have separation, and we need to come together."

And the Liberals are not entirely shut out from the province. Polls suggest that Alberta may send more Liberal MPs to Ottawa than in 2021, partly due to changing demographics that led to the creation of new ridings in urban Edmonton and Calgary.

James Forrester, who lives in the battleground Calgary Centre district, told the BBC he had traditionally voted Conservative but has leaned left in recent years. This time, he will vote Liberal because of the "Carney factor".

"I feel he's the best guy to deal with Trump," he said. As for the separation sentiment: "I'm not worried about it."