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A young boy from Belfast has received a letter from a former US President.

Dáithí Mac Gabhann who inspired a change in Northern Ireland's organ donation rules received a silver envelope through the letterbox on Thursday.

The letter was embellished with "William Jefferson Clinton", who many will know as Bill Clinton.

Dáithí's dad, Máirtín Mac Gabhann said the letter "stopped me in my tracks… the fact someone like President Clinton took the time to write this letter is amazing".

Dáithí's Law was named after seven-year-old Belfast boy Dáithí Mac Gabhann, who has been on the waiting list for a heart transplant since 2018.

The legislation means that most adults in Northern Ireland are now considered as potential organ donors after their death, unless they actively opt out.

Mr Mac Gabhann told BBC News NI it was as if fate helped Dáithí receive this letter.

"Dáithí and I were at (Belfast) City Hall to see the Secretary of State at a Good Friday Agreement event but he was running late… so we took a tour of the Freedom of the City Exhibition."

When they went to view the exhibition Mr Mac Gabhann said President Clinton and Senator George Mitchell had been a couple of the last to receive the honour, in 2018.

Dáithí also received the honour in 2023 in recognition of his campaign to raise awareness around organ donation.

"I just had a thought and I reached out to Queen's and said I've written letters out about Dáithí and everything that's happened," Mr Mac Gabhann said.

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He added that a response did come from Senator George Mitchell quickly because he had still been in Northern Ireland to respond.

But the letter from the former president was something unexpected.

"Dáithí hit a big redner, jaw on the floor… he knew this was big… he couldn't believe it… he was even getting a bit emotional about it all."

He added that it's so positive to have this letter as Dáithí is about to reach his 7th anniversary of waiting for a heart transplant.

"It gave us a much needed boost… Dáithí is stable now but this letter has saved the day for us… as he had been at hospital."

Dáithí's 7th anniversary of being on a waiting list for a heart transplant falls on 2 June.

In the letter to Dáithí, President Clinton said he was "so proud" to share the Freedom of the City honour "with someone as amazing as you".

"Keep up your great work and know that you have a big fan pulling for you in New York."

President Clinton ended the letter with one message – "Keep going!"

"It was just an amazing letter, I got a separate letter from President Clinton and he said 'Your letter took my breath away. Press on!' and that's momentous," said Mr Mac Gabhann.

Speaking about his son, Mr Mac Gabhann said it has been a long fight and journey for Dáithí but "luck has been on our side" and "the hope is what keeps you going".

He reiterated his call for those to consider joining the organ donor register and to talk about it with family and friends.

"We rely on the community, our close community, far and wide… don't forget about us. At our lowest points they (the community) have brought us up… as has President Clinton."

A stonemasonry student said companies had told her she could not join the profession "because she's a girl".

Alice, who is 17, was one of the students who took part in a competition for apprentices at Moulton College in Northampton on Thursday.

Industry experts have said 19,750 extra construction workers are needed in the East of England by 2028 to meet government housebuilding targets.

However, some students, like Alice, said they still faced barriers which made it difficult to pursue a career in construction.

The SkillBuild competition, organised by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), tested apprentices and trainees in a variety of tasks, from furniture making to tiling.

Alice, from Weston Favell in Northamptonshire, inherited her interest in architecture from her grandfather and wanted to work on some of the UK's greatest stone buildings – cathedrals.

But she said her journey had not been easy.

"I've tried to contact some companies to get onto that kind of work, but it hasn't really worked out," she told the BBC.

"The main thing is that I'm a woman and a lot of companies have told me 'you can't do this because you're a girl – you're not strong enough, you won't be able to do the heavy labour'."

Another competitor, Maizie from Bury St Edmonds in Suffolk, wanted to encourage more women to join the industry.

The 17-year-old goes to college in Colchester and said: "In my class it's actually a pretty good mix, but in the industry as a whole, it's definitely a big imbalance.

"People need to realise the value of these industries, and we need to push more young people to go into it. It can be a bit inaccessible at the beginning, especially for young people, since working in these workshop environments can be quite dangerous."

The first obstacle in the competition for Rugby man Sean, 18, was having to "scavenge" for the right tools to make a porch roof, having brought the wrong ones.

The bigger issue for him, generally, was the lack of opportunities for young people.

He said: "There's not enough apprenticeships – it took me two years to get here, and I feel like that's one of the biggest problems.

"The amount of houses they're trying to build; they definitely need more apprenticeships."

A CITB report published this month said 19,750 new workers were needed in the region.

Robert Smith, from the CITB, said "we really need to make that attractive so that they know there are jobs for the future, secure opportunities and great career pathways".

The figures suggest there is a long way to go before there is a gender balance in the industry.

According to The Office for National Statistics, women comprise just 15.8% of the construction workforce and only 2% of workers onsite.

There is some hope, though, with the number of women as a proportion of the overall construction workforce increasing by 36.9% since 2012.

The government said construction would be one area to benefit from a "record-breaking £3bn apprenticeship budget".

Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

US TV institution Saturday Night Live has entertained viewers and created comedy stars for 50 years. Can a British version reach the same heights?

For five decades, the phrase "Live from New York, it's Saturday night!" has boldly opened episodes of Saturday Night Live, with its tried and tested mix of topical sketch comedy, celebrity cameos and big-name musical guests.

Now, the stateside staple is to come live from London after Sky announced that a "star-studded" UK spin-off, fronted by British comedic talent, will launch next year.

Overseen by the US original show's creator Lorne Michaels, now 80, the broadcaster is promising the same "live, fast-paced style" as its American cousin.

Comedy heritage

Since being launched by Michaels in 1975, SNL has been a livewire springboard for comedic talents like Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell and Mike Myers.

Famed for its ever-revolving cast, Joe Piscopo of the 1980s cohort summed it up in a documentary marking the show's 50th anniversary: "They took sketch comedy to a whole other level," he said. "Comedy slowly became rock 'n' roll."

The unpredictable live premise, combined with its longevity, has helped maintain its status. No other show has been nominated for (331) or won (90) more Emmy Awards.

"I don't think you can underestimate that heritage when accounting for its current success," says the Guardian's TV and comedy writer Rachel Aroesti. "Which is something the UK version obviously won't be able to emulate."

The heritage is one reason why the show still attracts major young stars like Timothee Chalamet, who grew up watching it even as linear TV audiences have dropped sharply in the streaming age.

"In the US, the guests' involvement is often newsworthy in itself – they also know their presence will generate a lot of publicity, so it's a win-win situation," Aroesti adds.

"I would be surprised if the UK version is able to attract the same calibre of guest."

'Courageous' move

The Atlantic writer Helen Lewis says the general industry reaction has been that commissioning a UK version is a "courageous" move – wishing the team luck with the "difficult proposition".

There are some notable differences between the two transatlantic TV industries.

The US SNL budget will be far bigger than UK TV norm, paying for a large cast and a team of writers working to the wire to keep jokes current.

"In the American version, it's a very expensive format, having a writers' room and keeping a cast of actors on retainer, essentially, the whole time. That's really expensive," Lewis told BBC Radio 4's PM programme.

The US comedy culture is also different, Lewis believes.

"The humour can sometimes be much more slapsticky. Quite a lot of the time, Americans struggle with British humour because they think we're extremely mean."

Comedy writer Jack Bernhardt agrees that there are different comedic traditions. UK sketch groups often form through friendships and showcase their talent at the Edinburgh Fringe, whereas many US comedians train at improv and sketch clubs, specifically honing their skills for shows like SNL.

Bernhardt says these differences "can't necessarily be fixed by commissioning the UK version of SNL – it's an entire comedy culture that would need to shift".

"That's not to say one can't do the other," he adds. "Just that this version of a sketch show isn't necessarily playing to the unique strengths of the UK comedy scene. And that's even before we get into the difficulties of doing a live show."

Given these challenges, importing a legacy brand name like SNL may seem a gamble, especially at a time when the UK TV industry is faltering.

However, the US show's fortunes have held relatively firm this decade, even if ratings are well below the pre-streaming era.

Vulture found that SNL averages 8.4 million weekly viewers, outperforming all other late-night shows combined. It's also US network TV's top entertainment series among adults aged 18 to 49.

"You rarely hear anyone asking whether SNL will 'survive', only how once Michaels moves on," wrote reporter Josef Adalian. "Linear TV may be fighting for its life, yet SNL seems safe."

Crucially, the sketch format lends itself perfectly to social media age, being easily digestible on digital platforms. According to the Economist, online SNL clips are averaging about 216 million views per episode on TikTok, X and YouTube. Sure, these viewers are not watching live, but the content undoubtedly lives.

Previous attempts to translate US late-night shows to the UK have often struggled.

However, in the 1980s, Saturday Live – later renamed Friday Night Live – ran for four seasons and helped the careers of Ben Elton, Harry Enfield, Stephen Fry and Rik Mayall, while Channel 4's The 11 O'Clock Show gave breaks to Ricky Gervais and Sacha Baron Cohen.

British comedy producer Jimmy Mulville, whose company Hat Trick Productions has made shows including Have I Got News For You and Whose Line is it Anyway?, says the opportunity to develop new talent will be one of the key draws for Sky, despite the risks.

"If Sky get this right, they'll create new stars, and from that they can spin-off other shows with those performers," he explains. "These shows can be fantastic, they can go on for years, and they can show off new talent all the time."

He says the producers will need to assemble the right team of writers and performers.

"If it's well-produced, I've no reason to see why it shouldn't be successful," says Mulville, who co-hosts Insiders: The TV Podcast.

He recently took the BBC's long-running topical panel show Have I Got News For You to the US, where it has been commissioned for a second season by CNN. One US talent agent warned that the show was "too British" to work across the pond, he recalls.

"I said, 'Yes it is, but I'm going to get it written by Americans and performed by Americans for Americans'."

The reverse will be true for SNL. "In the UK, you're going to have it written by British writers with British performers for a British audience. So it's not an American show any more."

Indeed, being "live from London" won't be enough on its own to succeed, and SNL UK will need to feel like a truly British comedy creation and not just a reheated imitation of an American hit.

Three men have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after another man was stabbed in the head.

The victim, in his early 20s, was involved in an altercation with about 10 people in Aylesbury on Monday evening, Thames Valley Police said.

Officers believed the man was attacked with a screwdriver. He has since been treated and discharged from hospital.

Two men, aged 18, and another aged 20, remain in police custody. Police have appealed for witnesses.

The attack happened in the area of Oxford Road, Whitehall Street and Buckingham Street at about 18:40 BST.

Det Insp Philip Turner-Robson said: "This was a disorder involving multiple people which quickly escalated from a verbal altercation into violence.

"A man sustained stab wounds to his head in the incident, believed to be with a screwdriver, but thankfully his injuries are not life-threatening and he is no longer in hospital.

"We have made three arrests, and I would like to reassure the local community that we are investigating this incident as a priority, and there has been and will continue to be a presence of officers in the area while this investigation continues."

A consultation has begun for residents to have their say on future development in a city.

Peterborough's new local plan will set out priorities for housebuilding over the next 20 years, as well as things like transport, community facilities and other infrastructure.

A series of public events are happening next month to raise awareness of the consultation.

Nick Thulbourn, the council's cabinet member for growth and regeneration, said: "Local plans are key guides to what can be built where, shaping infrastructure investments and determining future plans for development."

He said Peterborough was one of the UK's fastest-growing cities and needed a plan to help "grow effectively and develop the local economy".

Local plans are made by councils in order to help guide planning decisions and make sure development is sustainable.

Peterborough City Council's review of its local plan is meant to replace the current policy it adopted in 2019, which sets out priorities like protecting open spaces and attracting more hi-tech businesses to the city.

People can take part in the consultation via the council's website, which ends on 29 May.

There are plans for public events at Queensgate Shopping Centre on 8 May, Peterborough Museum on 10 May and Cathedral Square on 15 May.

A final version of the local plan will be submitted to government in early 2026.

The city council said it would then be independently examined before coming into force by the end of next year.

Police have appealed for witnesses after a pedestrian was seriously injured after being hit by a van.

Devon and Cornwall Police said a man in his 60s was hit by a grey Vauxhall van on Winner Hill Road, Paignton at about 18:20 BST on Monday.

They said the man had been taken to hospital with serious injuries which were not thought to be life-threatening.

The force thanked members of the public for their patience while the road was closed and asked anyone with information or dash-cam footage related to the incident to come forward.

Parents and campaigners have welcomed the scrapping of proposed NHS budget limits which could have increased the wait for an ADHD diagnosis.

NHS England removed plans to set payment limits on its "right to choose" providers which allow GPs to refer patients for assessment anywhere in England.

Hartlepool mum Leanne Baister, who felt "stuck" because the proposals would affect her seven-year-old son Toby's assessment, said it "feels like a moment of success".

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the change would "help reduce waiting times and deliver the 18-week standard in a cost-effective way that delivers value to taxpayers".

There were fears the change for the 2025/26 budget would make waiting times jump but, after a period of consultation, NHS England said it has removed the proposal to "require commissioners to set payment limits for elective services", calling it a "substantial change".

'Won a major battle'

Mrs Baister was considering using right to choose to get a quicker assessment for Toby who also has Down's syndrome.

"I feel like we have a window of opportunity that has opened," she said.

"This has dramatically reduced our worries to know that what could have been a lengthy wait will be dramatically much less."

But she said uncertainty still remained.

Many areas of the UK have such long backlogs for adult ADHD assessments that it would take at least eight years to clear them, a BBC investigation found last year.

The charity ADHD UK said of the proposal change: "It's an important moment but the situation remains chaotic.

"We've won a major battle to stop things getting worse but the fight for proper NHS ADHD care continues."

The DHSC previously said it was working with NHS England's cross-sector taskforce to tackle the challenges those with ADHD face, including timely access to services and support.

A spokesperson said changes made to the initial budget proposals "introduce more flexible elective activity planning, remove the elective payment limit and strengthen activity management provisions".

The Welsh government will not get everything it wants from the UK government's spending review, the first minister has said.

Eluned Morgan had called on the prime minister to "cough up" extra funding for Wales ahead of meeting him on Friday.

But after it took place she urged people to be "patient" and said there were a "lot of pressures" on prime minister.

Morgan has criticised the PM over a list of complaints in recent weeks – the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru have accused her of confecting a row in response to poor opinion polls.

The Conservatives' Darren Millar said Morgan and Sir Keir were "joined at the hip".

Plaid said all the Welsh Labour leader got from the meeting was a photograph, posted to the Welsh government's feed on X.

Two West Sussex doctors set off on an international cycling challenge in aid of urology research on Thursday.

William Britnell and Barnaby Chappell, both consultant urologists, are aiming to cycle from London to Amsterdam by 7 June.

"We're proud to take on this challenge, not only to test ourselves but to support the incredible work of The Urology Foundation," Mr Chappell said.

They are cycling alongside other colleagues from the field as part of Bike4TUF 2025, a challenge raising money for the urology charity.

The cycling route will take the doctors via Dunkirk, in France, and Renesse in the Netherlands – a total of over 300 miles (482km).

As well as raising funds to support The Urology Foundation's research, training and education work, the challenge seeks to raise awareness of urologists' work.

The 2024 challenge saw urology professionals cycle from London to Nantes in France.