Florida has moved to remove four childhood vaccines from school requirements. The proposed rule comes as childhood vaccination rates plummet, while exemptions surge.
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A group of friends were left “stranded” in Turkey after their flight home was unable to operate in mysterious circumstances. Justine Williams, Debbie Davies and Steve Wilson had enjoyed a trip away together in Marmaris, and returned to Dalaman Airport ready to fly back to Bristol Airport on Saturday, August 22.
The trio from Swansea, who started their holiday the week prior on Saturday, August 15, reached the point of boarding, and could see their plane through the windows. But the departure time came and went, with Miss Williams stating that very little information was given for the growing delays.
The group, who had booked their flights and hotel separate, rather than a package deal, claim they were ushered onto buses and taken to a hotel which “puts up people when they are stranded”, without being given any explanation as to why their flight had been cancelled. EasyJet later said it was due to an issue with the aircraft that required an engineering inspection.
Read the full story here
The friends pictured at the airport
Judge Simon Mayo KC warned Aadil Sabir he faced a ‘lengthy custodial sentence’
There was a huge emergency services presence(Image: Highways England)
A dangerous driver from Cardiff has admitted killing one passenger and injuring two more when his Mercedes car flipped over and crashed on the motorway near Heathrow airport.
Aadil Sabir, 31, had been due to face trial at the Old Bailey on Tuesday over the fatal collision at junction three of the M4 in west London on October 29, 2023.
On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to causing the death of William Bailey by dangerous driving and causing serious injury to Azfur Khan and Hamad Zaman.
Sabir, of Pentre Gardens, Grangetown, Cardiff, entered his pleas by video-link from Wales. Don’t miss a court report by signing up to our crime newsletter here
Judge Simon Mayo KC warned Sabir he faced a “lengthy custodial sentence” as he ordered a pre-sentence report and fixed sentence for November 23.
He granted Sabir continued conditional bail and imposed an interim driving disqualification.
Previously, the Metropolitan Police had issued an appeal for witnesses and dashcam footage of the incident which caused disruption on the approach to Heathrow airport.
Officers had been called at 11.39am to reports of an overturned car on the eastbound carriageway of the M4 near to the Cranford Park Interchange.
Emergency services attended and four people were found with injuries, all of whom had been travelling in the defendant’s Mercedes car, police said.
Rear passenger, Mr Bailey, who was aged in his 20s, died at the scene.
Two other men, in their 20s, were taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and a fourth was treated at the scene for minor injuries before being transferred to hospital, police had said.
A post on social media in the aftermath of the crash showed a car on fire at the side of the motorway as someone tried to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher.
Another post showed firefighters dealing with the car after the fire had been put out.
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The initiative will help provide dental care to some of the UK’s most vulnerable people (Image: Getty Images)
A £1million fund has been launched to provide dental treatment to the most vulnerable members of society alongside supporting underrepresented groups to pursue careers within dentistry.
The mydentist Foundation will support charitable organisations helping those recovering from addiction or suffering extreme poverty.
Its first initiative will be the launch of an eco-conscious mobile dental unit which will deliver care for rough sleepers, survivors of abuse and vulnerable women.
In the first year, more than 850 of the hardest-to-reach members of communities across the country will be seen onboard by volunteer dentists and dental nurses.
Procedures including fillings, extractions, scaling and polishing, fluoride varnish applications, X-rays and oral cancer screenings will all be covered by the vehicle, which is set to hit the road in October.
It will primarily visit hostels and crisis accommodation, community centres, family hubs, refuges and soup kitchens.
Alongside this, the fund will create opportunities for aspiring dental professionals from disadvantaged backgrounds.
These professional pathways include a dental scholarship scheme, helping talented students through their BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) university qualification and apprenticeships supporting dental nurses who want to become hygienists and therapists.
The £1 million launch is a partnership between mydentist, the UK’s largest dental operator, and Dentaid, The Dental Charity.
It follows a study of 2,000 adults which revealed four in 10 Brits were unaware of the challenges faced by society’s most vulnerable groups, including women at risk and survivors of abuse, when trying to access dental care.
More than half (53%) were ‘surprised’ to learn that thousands of disadvantaged people across the UK rely on charities and specialist outreach services.
Volunteers will carry out a variety of treatments (Image: Getty Images)
Nilesh Pandya, chief executive officer of the affordable dental care provider, which also commissioned the survey, said: “While many people take access to a dentist for granted, those facing complex challenges such as addiction, homelessness and poor health, getting the care they need can be incredibly difficult, often leading to years of untreated pain and deteriorating oral health.
“The findings also highlighted a lack of understanding around some of the less visible challenges people can face when trying to attend regular dental appointments.”
Four in 10 felt the UK Government should take the lead in addressing barriers to dental care faced by vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.
When it came to solutions, lower treatment costs topped the list, with 52% citing it as the initiative most likely to improve access, according to OnePoll figures.
More NHS appointments and mobile dental clinics were each supported by 46%, highlighting demand for greater accessibility and outreach services.
Community outreach programmes (27%), better information about available help (26%) and specialist support services (20%) were also among the initiatives people felt would make a difference.
Nine in 10 (91%) agreed everyone in the UK should be able to access dental care regardless of their circumstances.
Nilesh Pandya, chief executive officer of mydentist, added: “It’s encouraging to see such strong support for improving access to dental care for those who need it most.
“Through our new foundation and partnership with Dentaid, we’re committed to helping vulnerable and underserved communities access the treatment they need and deserve.
“By supporting outreach services, we hope to help tackle oral health inequalities and reach people who might otherwise go without care.
“We will also support talented people from different walks of life to pursue careers within dentistry, including financial support, mentoring and development opportunities.”
Towards the end of a hot, dry summer, Chepstow Castle provided a spectacular setting for an evening bringing together two contrasting branches of the same rock family tree. Creedence Clearwater Revival achieved their breakthrough in 1969, the year Wishbone Ash formed. Both drew heavily upon blues, country and R&B, but took those roots in different directions: Creedence distilled them into compact, swampy rock’n’roll, while Wishbone Ash stretched them into something more melodic and progressive.
Clearwater Creedence Revival proved more than the average tribute act. Fronted by Peter Barton, the road-hardened quartet brought real conviction to staples including Proud Mary, Bad Moon Rising and Up Around The Bend. The set also ventured beyond the most obvious crowdpleasers: I Put A Spell On You, Cotton Fields and I Heard It Through The Grapevine demonstrated the breadth of their repertoire and gave the musicians room to stretch out. Drummer Geoff Hammond took full advantage, delivering an entertaining solo which incorporated anything within reach – including the lead singer’s microphone.
As the evening cooled, Wishbone Ash turned up the heat. The band helped establish harmonised twin-lead guitars as part of rock’s vocabulary, and it was easy to hear their influence on acts ranging from Thin Lizzy to Iron Maiden. Now led by sole remaining founding member Andy Powell, the headliners took the audience through more than five decades of music.
Powell remained an engaging presence on guitar and vocals, but it was his interplay with the outstanding Mark Abrahams that defined the performance. The pair repeatedly traded and harmonised guitar lines with remarkable fluidity. After early highlights including Blowin’ Free, the set reached its centrepiece with the thematic Argus trilogy of The King Will Come, Warrior and Throw Down The Sword. Later material, including Enigma, In Crisis and Living Proof, ensured this remained a celebration of the band’s wider career rather than simply an exercise in nostalgia.
At times, the expansive dual-guitar passages recalled the Allman Brothers Band, who developed a similarly fluid twin-guitar sound on the other side of the Atlantic. Elsewhere, Wishbone Ash’s more pastoral qualities brought to mind the atmospheric folk-prog of modern bands like Midlake.
The extended Phoenix provided an epic conclusion to the main set, Powell and Abrahams passing the lead between them as the music unfolded. A rousing Jail Bait encore then drew an enthusiastic response from a crowd that would gladly have stayed for more. Another entertaining night in the Castell Roc season, which has brought melody to this corner of Wales throughout August.
Wishbone Ash + Clearwater Creedence Revival, Chepstow Castle, Sun 23 Aug
words and photos KARL ELLIS
It’s a silent condition affecting millions, lurking in the background until it leads to deadly heart attacks and strokes, experts told the Daily Mail. Yet few have ever heard of it.
Julia Bottoms spent four days in Glanusk Park for the latest edition of the Green Man festival. The grass may have been greener in past years, and the ceremonial figure who gives the event its name may have avoided his traditional demise for health and safety reasons, but it all makes this feel like an evermore valuable escape.
A titan of the festival calendar, Green Man has kept the Welsh flame burning for almost 25 years, yet this year’s festival arrives under a cruel irony. Following a summer of heat and drought which has set the valley’s hillsides aflame – and thus stopped this year’s green man from burning on Sunday night – the festival’s sustainability commitments feel pertinent as ever.
The lineup, however, is anything but dry. Across its four days, a rich pool of emerging talent and established stars flowed through the valley, and this year, a strong electronic contingent lent the festival an unexpected party pulse. Still, as the pleasant ring mountainous green encloses the site, and barely a phone held aloft in sunscreen-perfumed crowds, Green Man retains its rare sense of bucolic remove. It’s a festival that seems, for a few days at least, to exist at a curious distance from the rest of the world.
Thursday
Despite a few opening teething problems, ‘wonk pop’ rockers Lime Garden waste little time in finding their stride, their buzzy set gathering momentum as they unveil new single Moving Target. “We think it’s the best one yet,” proclaims lead vocalist Chloe Howard, and indeed it is; written about a long-lost lover who decamped to Iceland, Howard sings from the gut, and the band’s instinct for basic melodic pleasure finds the fun in heartbreak.
CVC, or Church Village Collective, are slick and buoyant – six harmonising Welsh lads crooning about girls, quotidian pleasures and good times. Charming, though their repeated calls for their volume to be turned up makes for a somewhat distracted stage presence. Mogwai, by contrast, play with the kind of volume that makes you feel your own insides, and the crowd stays in spades, transfixed. Directly following is Charlotte Church in her End Times Pop Dungeon which presents an interesting change of pace. True to form, she lets it rip from the first note, but more surprising is an idiosyncratic rendition of Charli XCX’s Sympathy Is A Knife, taking something of a leftfield detour in her setlist.
Friday
Alt-folk Manchester seven-piece The Slow Country are undoubtedly among the festival’s freshest young talents. With no discernible frontperson, the seven-piece collective, who have worked with the likes of Bill Ryder-Jones, operate as more of a musical democracy. From a swirling amalgam of keys, mandolin, yelps and BC,NR-esque strings, the result is a magical, joyously unruly sound.
Next, this year’s Green Man Rising winner Tall Child takes to the Mountain Stage. Lead singer Zha Gandhi packs both precision and power on new single Money, a rallying cry for young artists negotiating the precarities of creative life on universal credit, a cause fittingly supported by the award itself. Over at the Walled Garden stage, the heady folksy jingle of My New Band Believe spills out, with ex-Black Midi frontman Cameron Picton revealing the simpering, tender underbelly of his tenor in songs like ‘Kick Me’.
Westside Cowboy’s hotly anticipated set arrives on the day their new album is released, drawing a heaving crowd to the Mountain Stage despite the heavens opening overhead. For a finale, the Mancunian four-piece ditch their midwest indie rock’n’roll for an acoustic, intimate rendition of In The Morning. Unfortunately, Maria Somerville’s sunken dreampop is mushed to sludge on the Far Out Stage, the basslines drowning out the gauzy intricacies of tracks like Projections.
By contrast, New York duo Ear fill the space with a well of bewildering electronica, and a hyperreal gleam to their performance. Standing in front of the shimmering idyll of what looks like someone’s back garden, Jonah Paz and Yaelle Avtan dance like violently shaking twin mops, and are remarkably awkward but in a good way (“OK… we are gonna sing it now”). Their sound: like hitting QWERTY on the keyboard over spindly flashes of synth and dark, jerky basslines.
Back at the Mountain Stage, Dry Cleaning perform in front of what looks like a giant photograph of Heathrow airport, summoning Jeff Tweedy for a rendition of My Soul/Half Pint. Florence Shaw’s dry, dispassionate question mark of a voice glides cooly over the band’s characteristically danger-tinged right-angle riffs, but some momentum is lost when straying from hits. Stalwart of Copenhagen’s alt-underground ML Buch plays her set as one continuous passage, her vocals sliding magnetically over the glossy contours of bending guitar licks. Tracks like Flames Shards Goo create an uncanny effect, like the meeting of screen and flesh.
What’s sign language for poo? The BSL interpreter rises to the challenge for Getdown Services. So begins another descent into the Bristol duo’s brand of lowbrow brilliance; a faceful of crisps and the occasional dab, and a setlist that is as puerile as it is political. There’s a sincere call to free Palestine, alongside praising the festival’s independent spirit, before back down to dog dribbling and runins with radiators. Back at Mountain, something strange keeps happening in the middle of Wilco’s set. Gut shuddering drum fills interrupt Via Chicago and California Stars, met with bewilderment, then awe. By the closing stretch, they are at their most raucous, although the set’s 90-minute runtime slightly drags. Finally, Adult DVD’s propulsive post punk soundtracks a bumping, abrasive end to the evening. Their sound is like taking a bludgeon to a synthesiser, yet beneath the assault is a pulse that demands movement, and gets it.
Saturday
There’s an avian presence throughout Ana Frango Elétrico’s set, even down to her floofy bucket hat, as she performs tracks from her second album, Little Electric Chicken Heart. Her voice sounds part-trumpet, gliding over mellow syncopated grooves. Making their Green Man debut, young Cardiff-based Casual Smart drew a curious crowd to the Rising Stage. Resembling a charming jumble of art school kids in t-shirts and frocks, they produce a stuffed, homespun sound reminiscent of Belle & Sebastian. Over on the Mountain Stage, Chicagoan three-piece Horsegirl were unfortunately swallowed up by the vastness of the stage despite a technically tight set.
Australian indie outfit The Belair Lip Bombs live up to the intrigue of their name, dealing in a heady, rounded sound, propelled by chugging guitars and top-class vocals from Maisie Everett; their cathartic, friendly strain of rock feels almost purpose-built for Green Man. And luminous as ever, Cate Le Bon seems to levitate above the festival stage. With press photography forbidden and crowd interaction limited aside from the occasional “diolch”, her main medium of communication is physical; casting balletic hand movements as if practicing an incantation.
Over at the Walled Garden, Joanne Robertson, long-term collaborator of the enigmatic Dean Blunt, is just stunning. Murky, folky and with a vocal quality of pure hypnosis, hers is the sound of an artist prising itself up from the underground scene. Mary In The Junkyard follow as a late addition to the lineup; Saya Barbaglia’s strings shine, sometimes a gossamer whisper, at others striking a deep velvety chord. Despite some technical issues, the array of chosen tracks is fantastic, in particular Clari Freeman-Taylor’s performance of Jane, a gooey and gorgeous “love song to [her] period”.
One of the Rising Stage breakthroughs this year is Leeds-based dance-noise ensemble Bathing Suits. For them, the beat is gospel and the crowd a congregation; their dedication to the club is taken to feverish extremes with mangled guitars pushed towards frequencies of pain. Vocalist Freyja Blevins strips down and douses herself in water as some kind of ecstatic baptism before convulsing across the stage, as if she had stuck her hand in the decks and electrified herself. Over on the Mountain Stage, Four Tet expectantly draw a seismic crowd of balmy-evening boppers, doubtless borrowing a few listeners away from Celeste as the set shifts from ambient electronica to full-bodied bass.
Sunday
Gwen – the new solo musical project created by Gwenllian Anthony, bassist and co-founder of Adwaith – opens Sunday at the Walled Garden, with her first ever gig. Muscular bass, roving rhythms and a vocal elasticity reminiscent of Dolores O’Riordan of The Cranberries make for a dynamic debut.
Later, 23-year-old indie wunderkind Dove Ellis takes the Mountain Stage. His debut album, released last winter, shyly glimmered with promise and now, performed in full glare of the sinking sun, seems to have reached full bloom. In its falsetto, Ellis’ vocal resemblance to Jeff Buckley is striking, while its unguarded ache carries shades of Cameron Winter. Even the high notes come barrelling out of him, and live, the album is even more vibrant, glazed with lush strings and smatterings of clarinet, all to a theatrical effect.
North Carolina outfit Wednesday tore into the Far Out stage, with frontwoman Karly Hartzman opening with the howling Reality TV Argument Bleeds before shifting gears into the country swing of Elderberry Wine. New York-based party duo Fcukers follow, bringing their relentless, non-stop party hedonism to a jammed-out crowd. Both Jackson Walker-Lewis and Shanny Wise are just effortlessly cool: “Are you ready to partyy?” Wise purrs in her feather-light lilt. Yes, yes we are, return a rapturous crowd.
Dazzling the stage for the festival’s final act, Wolf Alice bring something for everyone with a perfectly calibrated set. Opening bombastically with Bloom Baby Boom, we veer through the full-throated catharsis of Yuk Foo, before settling into beloved favourites like Don’t Delete The Kisses. Anna Calvi and Dove Ellis join for a rendition of ‘Sunday Light’, while a later cover of Mazzy Star’s Fade Into You draws out the smoky kinship between Ellie Rowsell and Hope Sandoval’s respective vocals. It all makes for a fittingly transcendent finale as the festival closes in a state of well-earned euphoria.
Green Man Festival, Glanusk Park, Crickhowell, Thurs 20-Sun 23 Aug
words JULIA BOTTOMS photos HANNAH NICOLSON-TOTTLE
There are protein-packed cookies, bars and more, all promising to fuel the body and curb cravings without the guilt that comes with regular junk food. But are these snacks really as healthy as they look?
This long, hot summer has brought our third drought in five years and the driest July in almost two centuries. We’ve seen wildfires burn down homes and now face the risk of flash floods as we move into autumn. It should be a wake-up call for those saying that concerns about the climate crisis are overblown; that we should simply sit back and do nothing; or row back on attempts to restore our natural environment. As the new environment secretary, I won’t let that happen.
No one who has experienced this summer in the UK should be in any doubt that our climate is already changing. We know the future holds warmer, wetter winters, hotter, drier summers, and more extreme weather.
Honesty about what is required to deal with this changing reality is the least we should expect from our politicians. But last week we saw an astonishing response from Reform UK’s deputy leader, who told people to “enjoy” the scorching heatwaves and described this government’s efforts to combat the climate crisis as “arrogant”.
This response isn’t just ignorant; it is insulting.
Insulting to the firefighters risking their lives to fight blazes up and down the country. Insulting to the public whose lives are disrupted by scorching temperatures that were once a rare occurrence. And insulting to our farmers struggling to turn a profit as drought damages their crops.
This government’s response is not to throw in the towel and accept the chaos caused by extreme weather. It is to work to build and manage landscapes so they are resilient enough to withstand it and recover.
We know that healthy ecosystems retain more water and can help act as natural firebreaks. That resilience does not just protect us from the impacts of wildfire. It guards against flooding and pollution, too.
But some, including the Conservatives, have made the argument that rewilding lowers resilience to fire and that we should reverse restrictions on burning heather on our moors and peatlands. The exact opposite is true.
The evidence clearly shows that wetter, healthy peatlands hold more water and are less likely to develop species that are vulnerable to fires. The damage that has been done to these vital habitats by decades of burning has made them more vulnerable to wildfires in the long term, not less.
The solution to raging wildfires is not more burning of our countryside. It is to restore and better manage our environment.
Where rewilding has been prioritised, as at the National Trust’s Holnicote estate, you can clearly see the stark difference that it makes to the ability to withstand extreme weather. In areas where rivers and wetlands have been restored, the plants are green and blooming. Elsewhere, the ground is brown and dry.
As environment secretary, most of what comes across my desk is underpinned by the need to adapt to our changing climate – and this government is taking these challenges head on.
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That’s why the prime minister this month convened an emergency Cobra meeting, bringing together senior ministers, firefighters, weather forecasters and other experts to make sure we’re doing all we can to keep the country safe from wildfires. That includes a temporary ban on the sale of disposable barbecues.
We are spending almost £100m to strengthen the country’s capacity to respond to wildfires and extreme weather.
And we are backing our farmers during the drought with a £65m funding boost, rule changes to make building on-site reservoirs easier and the largest nature-friendly budget in history to make our farms more resilient to extreme weather and to protect our food security.
Adapting to our changing climate demands sustained attention, effort and investment. Others may simply deny the problem or stick their heads in the sand, but this government will rise to the challenge.
Endurance sports are on the rise, with attendance climbing at Welsh events like Peak Online Tri and the Dragon’s Back Race. Julia Bottoms finds out about the risks and rewards of pushing through the pain.
Suffering has never been so popular. From marathon running to Ironman triathlons and Hyrox, endurance sports are booming. More than 1.1 million people applied for this year’s London Marathon ballot – nearly twice as many as in 2024 – while Ironman has reported a 39% rise in athletes under 30.
That appetite extends to Wales too, with events such as the Peak Online Tri, a three-day endurance event founded by Devon-based entrepreneur Andrew Bowers, 43. Last year’s event, which totalled 94 miles of cycling, kayaking and running, raised £18,000, while this year the event will be held in Bannau Brycheiniog with proceeds going to Tŷ Hafan Children’s Hospice. The challenge is also dedicated to Bowers’ friend and former colleague, Paul Russell, who died last year after a struggle with mental health.
“I wanted to make my company have a core value of community engagement,” Bowers says. “I hit a niche in the market that people were looking for; they were looking for adventure and fun. They wanted to do a bit of fundraising, but they didn’t want it to be super competitive.”
Rob Cartmel, 59, experienced that first-hand when he took part last year. Having previously completed other events such as Hyrox, he says the bonds formed during the challenge made the event particularly special. “I remember at about 10 miles in, I was on the verge of calling my wife,” he says. “And one of the guys that was with me, Darren, dropped back and near enough pushed me along.”
Still, confusion or concern for those who make the active decision to go through with it might be understandable. “It’s hard to explain to people who don’t do it, but I enjoy being uncomfortable, to push myself and mentally switch off,” says Bowers.
In 2024, 35-year-old Danny Smith won the Cape Wrath Ultra – a 400km, eight-day expedition race through the Scottish Highlands. This September he’ll tackle Wales’ notorious Dragon’s Back Race, a 380km, six-day ascent widely regarded as one of the toughest mountain races in the world. “You can get into a really nice flow, a Zen state, where you feel you’re not necessarily thinking of anything,” he says. “When you do, you think of family and friends, or the people who’ve made sacrifices so you can do this very privileged thing.”
The attraction, he says, becomes increasingly psychological. “I almost feel when you continue to do more races, you’re trying to find out why you’re doing it in the first place, and why you want to keep pushing your body in that way.”
The risks, however, are real. This year’s Dragon’s Back Race has been overshadowed by the death of accomplished ultrarunner David Parrish – who won last year’s race, and Cape Wrath Ultra in 2023. In April, however, he died while attempting the Cape Wrath Trail alone, aiming to raise money for Mountain Rescue. “A lot of these events do also rely on mountain rescue and volunteers to support,” Smith notes.
Moreover, reaching the finish rarely comes without its aftereffects, which are mixed. Cartmel recalls finishing Peak Online last year: “I was so happy, but I couldn’t even lift my shirt off. And when my wife pulled my boots off, my toenails came out too. It was horrendous.”
Yet the experience continues to attract so many. While endurance sport has traditionally attracted middle-aged men, organisers are seeing growing interest from younger competitors and women. Cartmel says his 23-year-old daughter and her friend have already signed up for next year’s event, while Smith says: “One of the things I really do love about this sport is the fact you’re in the same race with men and women, young and old – you’re all in it together.”
Though Bowers is yet to announce details for next year’s event, there’s already a waiting list – and, despite Cartmel’s profession that he is “never doing it ever again,” he’s already found himself agreeing to it.
Dragon’s Back Race, Conwy Castle to Cardiff Castle, Mon 7-Sat 12 Sept (info: here); Peak Online Tri, Bannau Brycheiniog, Fri 11-Sun 13 Sept (info: here)
words JULIA BOTTOMS
