Train drivers have voted to accept a multi-year pay deal, bringing an end to two years of strikes.

Aslef, the train drivers’ union, said 96 per cent of its members had in favour of a deal it said was worth 15 per cent over three years. The union said turnout was 84 per cent.

The offer was made by the Government within weeks of Labour winning the general election. 

The ballot result ends what Aslef called “the longest train drivers’ strike in history”, during which drivers took 18 days of strike action.

The union had accused the previous Conservative government of “sitting on its hands” and refusing to negotiate.

Mick Whelan, the Aslef general secretary, said: “It is with great pleasure that we can announce the end of the longest train drivers’ strike in history.

“The strength and resilience and determination shown by train drivers to protect their hard-won and paid-for terms and conditions against the political piracy of an inept and destructive Tory government has prevailed.

“It was not a fight we sought or wanted. All we sought after five years without a pay rise, working for private companies who, throughout that period, declared millions of pounds in profits and dividends to shareholders, was a dent in the cost of living.

“We are grateful that Louise Haigh, the Secretary of State for Transport, and the adults entered the room and sought an equitable way forward so that trains will perform and run in the interest of the passenger, of the taxpayer and of those who work in and are dedicated to this industry.

“Those who have been lying about this pay offer, and conflating the deal offered to train drivers with decisions on the winter fuel allowance, should be ashamed – although it seems to be the work of those who would not accurately report anything about train drivers over the past two years.

“Now we will get back to our day job of seeking a green, well-invested, vertically-integrated and safe public railway.”

Ms Haigh said: “After two years of chaos on our railways under the Conservatives, this is an important step towards fixing our railways and getting the country moving again.

“It will ensure a more reliable service by helping to protect passengers from national strikes, and crucially, it clears the way for vital reform – including modernising outdated working practices – to ensure a better-performing railway for everyone.”

It is the latest climb-down to the unions since Sir Keir Starmer took power. On Monday, junior doctors accepted a 22 per cent pay rise – but have said they could strike again if they do not get more money.

Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, has also signed off an above-inflation salary increase of 5.5 per cent for millions of public sector staff at a cost of nearly £10 billion. She justified the move by arguing that more strikes would cost the economy more in the long run.

Aslef had urged its 19,000 train driver members to accept the offer, which will allow them to keep their current working conditions.

Under the current system, train drivers work a four-day week totalling 35 hours. Most are not contractually required to work Saturdays and Sundays, meaning they can charge overtime for volunteering to work at weekends.

Train drivers also enjoy a series of rights collectively known as Spanish practices, which the previous government wanted to end. They include allowing staff to start their lunch break again if a boss starts talking to them and refusing to let workers use new technology such as video calls.

Nicola Sturgeon has predicted a united Ireland as part of a “wider shake-up” of the UK that will also see Scottish independence.

The former first minister appeared to endorse the idea of Irish unification, saying it would be part of “a very healthy realignment of how the nations of the British Isles are governed and cooperate together”.

Ms Sturgeon, who remains an MSP but has faced criticism for her lack of activity at Holyrood, was speaking to the BBC to mark the 10th anniversary of the independence referendum.

“I believe that, perhaps as part of a wider shake-up of UK governance, the reunification of Ireland, perhaps, more autonomy in Wales, that I think we will see Scotland become an independent country,” she said. “I’ll certainly campaign and advocate for that for as long as I’ve got breath in my body.”

Ms Sturgeon refused to say whether she believed Irish reunification would come before Scottish independence, but added: “I do think that will happen.

“I think we will see over the next number of years, I’m not going to sit here and put a figure on that, what I would describe as a very healthy realignment of how the nations of the British Isles are governed and cooperate together.”

Independence suffered election setback

In 2021, while she was still in office, Ms Sturgeon said she believed Brexit made a united Ireland “more likely than it was before” but stopped short of predicting that it would happen or endorsing it.

In May 2022, 10 months before she stepped down as first minister, Ms Sturgeon held talks with Michelle O’Neill, now Northern Ireland’s First Minister, at her official Bute House residence.

The meeting came two weeks after Ms O’Neill’s party, Sinn Fein, which supports a United Ireland and was previously regarded as the political wing of the IRA, emerged as the largest party in the Stormont elections.

The prospects of Scottish independence suffered a major setback at the general election, when Labour won a landslide victory north of the border and the SNP’s seat tally fell from 48 MPs to just nine.

The SNP had gone into the election claiming winning a majority of Scotland’s 57 seats would deliver a fresh independence mandate, but fell catastrophically short of the target.

‘Tide and pattern of debates is moving’

However, John Swinney, the First Minister, has defied calls to put independence on the back burner, instead insisting he will launch a fresh campaign to persuade Scots it is “the solution” to their problems.

Asked whether he supported Ms Sturgeon’s predictions about an independent Scotland and a united Ireland, Mr Swinney said: “Do I think they’ll both happen? Yes, I do. So I agree with that point very much. I think the tide and the pattern of those debates is moving decisively and emphatically in that direction.”

At a rally in Edinburgh on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of the referendum, Mr Swinney claimed that Scotland was now closer to independence than it was in 2014.

Despite his party’s dramatic loss of support over recent years, he claimed new powers that came to Holyrood after Scots voted No meant separation had moved closer.

“People can see as a consequence of the pressure to get more powers here in Scotland we have added to the achievements and the strengths we have already put in place,” he claimed.

“People can see the positive impact of decisions being taken here in Scotland.”

Craig Hoy, the Scottish Conservative chairman, said: “Nicola Sturgeon simply cannot help herself. Not only is she still pushing Scottish independence at every turn, she has now decided to weigh in on the divisive issue of a border poll in Ireland too.

“Rather than constantly talking about the break-up of the United Kingdom, the former SNP leader should be focused on the real priorities of the people in Glasgow Southside. She should stop being a part-time MSP and stand up for what really matters to her constituents like record NHS waiting times, good local jobs and keeping communities safe from crime.”

Sir Keir Starmer is facing a backlash from his own staff after rewriting the rules to pay Sue Gray, his chief of staff, more than the Prime Minister.

Ms Gray now receives a taxpayer-funded salary of £170,000 – meaning she is on £3,000 more than Sir Keir. Previously, the top salary band for special advisers was £140,000 to £145,000.

It has led to questions about the balance of power in No 10 amid claims that Ms Gray is an “extremely powerful” chief of staff.

One Whitehall source told The Telegraph they had been left “speechless” by the news of Ms Gray’s salary.

Speaking to the BBC, another source said: “It speaks to the dysfunctional way No 10 is being run – no political judgment, an increasingly grand Sue who considers herself to be the Deputy Prime Minister, hence the salary, and no other voice for the Prime Minister to hear as everything gets run through Sue.”

Another Government insider called Ms Gray’s pay “the highest-ever special adviser salary in the history of special advisers”.

Great influence in Downing Street role

The former senior civil servant has great influence in her Downing Street role, which extends to involvement in ministerial appointments and top-level decision-making.

It was claimed in the initial BBC report on her pay that she had turned down a lower offer, meaning she would have received less money than the Prime Minister.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “It is false to suggest that political appointees have made any decisions on their own pay bands or determining their own pay. Any decision on special adviser pay is made by officials, not political appointees.

“As set out publicly, special advisers cannot authorise expenditure of public funds or have responsibility for budgets.”

The Conservatives have raised a number of questions for Labour and the Cabinet Office over what they described as an “unprecedented pay deal”.

The party demanded that Downing Street reveal whether Sir Keir personally signed off the salary, and what role Ms Gray played, if any, in the setting of her salary.

As leader of the opposition in 2021, Sir Keir criticised a five-figure pay rise for Dominic Cummings, who was chief adviser to Boris Johnson during the first half of his premiership.

The Labour leader wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “£40,000 per year pay rise for Dominic Cummings. £3.50 per week for NHS nurses. The mask has slipped.”

‘We never comment on staff salaries’

Ms Gray was accused of cronyism last month after a former Labour think tank staffer was given a senior role in the Cabinet Office.

She became a household name in 2022 when she led a report into alleged lockdown-breaking parties across Downing Street and Whitehall amid the partygate scandal.

Sir Keir then poached her as his chief of staff in March last year, prompting accusations from the Conservatives she had broken impartiality rules. Labour has repeatedly insisted all rules were followed around Ms Gray’s appointment.

A spokesman for Sir Keir said: “We never comment on staff salaries.”

Government sources added that salary data is set out annually in the ministerial pay report and special advisers annual report.

Like special advisers to the Government, Ms Gray’s salary is covered by the taxpayer. 

Liam Booth-Smith, who was Rishi Sunak’s chief of staff, was paid between £140,000 and £144,999. His penchant for leather jackets earned him the nickname “the Travolta of the Treasury”.

Comedian Robin Ince has claimed that he was bullied by Ricky Gervais.

The performer, known for co-presenting the Infinite Monkey Cage on BBC Radio 4, toured with Gervais before the pair fell out.

Ince has claimed that, looking back, he now feels he was bullied by Gervais, whose seemingly strange behaviour towards him made others uncomfortable.

Instances of the alleged odd behaviour were captured in behind-the-scenes material included in a 2004 DVD of Gervais’s Politics tour with Ince.

It’s not clear if the behind-the-scenes footage is what Ince is referring to when making the bullying allegations, however in the clips Gervais can be seen apparently irritating Ince with loud noises, songs, surprises, and requests to perform tasks for his amusement.

Speaking about their relationship on The Starting Line podcast, Ince said: “I look back now, and I think it is bullying, really it is.”

Ince said that he forgot how “weird” the behaviour was, and its strangeness was only made apparent when people outside their friendship witnessed Gervais’ actions.

He said: “I would go through it, but people who knew me did not like the way that relationship worked.”

During one incident, when Gervais was publicly reading out a diary of Ince’s invented daily actions, The Office star and Detectorists creator MacKenzie Crook intervened to ask him to stop because he himself was uncomfortable with it, according to Ince.

In video outtakes from their shared tour in 2004, Ince describes himself as a “human stress ball” used by Gervais.

In video extras on the DVD for the Politics tour, Gervais is seen squealing at Ince, attempting to jump out and surprise him, prodding his face, tying him up, and singing to him while filming on a small video camera.

He later described members of the tour joining in with Gervais’ antics, comparing them to the out of control boys in Lord of the Flies.

The filmed performance of Gervais’ Politics show used in the DVD opens with him making jokes at the expense of Ash Atalla, a producer who uses a wheelchair, which Atalla later said made him “uncomfortable”.

Representatives for Gervais were contacted for comment.

A businesswoman accused of sparking the Southport riots is no longer being investigated by the police.

Bernadette Spofforth was alleged to be one of the first people to share the incorrect name of the suspected knifeman in the attack, in which three young girls killed.

She said she was arrested on Aug 8 on suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred and false communications.

The 55-year-old had wrongly claimed on X, formerly Twitter, that the suspect in the killing of three girls outside a Taylor Swift dance class was an asylum seeker who had recently arrived in the UK by boat.

The false accusation, promoted across social media by far-Right accounts and Russian bots, was blamed for sparking the riots that spread across the country.

Mrs Spofforth, who lives in a million-pound farmhouse near Chester, denied she was the first to post the message, saying she had simply made the mistake of repeating it.

A spokesman for Cheshire Constabulary said: “A woman who was arrested in relation to an inaccurate social media post has been released without charge. Following a thorough investigation, a decision has been made that no further action will be taken due to insufficient evidence.”

In a video posted on X on Wednesday, Mrs Spofforth said she had not posted on social media since her arrest as her bail conditions forbade her from doing so.

She said: “Firstly, thank you for all of your messages, and I’m so sorry I haven’t responded or replied to any of you, but I couldn’t. I would have been locked up in a cell again for breaching bail conditions if I had.

“I want to let you know, though, that on Sep 5, the police issued what’s called an NFA, and that means no further action and no charges because I hadn’t done anything illegal.”

Mrs Spofforth said she had “just copied and pasted a name” and “unusually” for her did not check the source of the information.

The post she tweeted read: “Ali Al-Shakati was the suspect. He was an asylum seeker who came to the UK by boat last year and was on an MI6 watch list.” She added: “If this is true, then all hell is about to break loose.”

She said she deleted the post when she realised the name was incorrect and claimed that, despite doing so, police arrived at her house “mob handed” to arrest her on Aug 8.

“Instead of a simple voluntary interview, they searched me, arrested me and held me for 36 hours in a concrete cell with a concrete bed, like a terrorist.

“Now, I deleted that post because I found out it was incorrect. Keir Starmer said just a few years ago that if people make social media posts an error and then delete them that should be the end of the matter – but it seems that’s no longer the case.” She said she “had not, and would not, make something up”.

The false claim in Mrs Spofforth’s tweet was picked up by Russia-linked Channel3 Now, a website that masquerades as a legitimate American news outlet but acts as an “aggregator” for fake viral claims as well as real news stories.

The claim was then boosted by thousands of other Russia-linked accounts before being repeated by Russian state media, which cited Channel3 Now in its reporting.

It was also picked up by far-Right figures such as Tommy Robinson – whose real name is Stphen Yaxley-Lennon – and Andrew Tate, whose posts about “Al-Shakati” garnered millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes.

Axel Rudakubana, an 18-year-old born in Cardiff, has been charged with three counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder over the Southport attack.

A British-educated entrepreneur has denied manufacturing the pagers that wounded hundreds of Hezbollah fighters in a simultaneous explosion on Tuesday afternoon.

The devices, used by the Lebanese terror group to communicate securely, wounded more than 3,000 people and killed at least 12 in an audacious Israeli attack.

The Taiwanese firm whose branding was on the devices said on Wednesday that they were manufactured in Hungary.

Gold Apollo said “the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility” of Budapest-based BAC Consulting KFT, which was authorised to use its brand as part of a three-year-old licensing agreement.

“We may not be a large company, but we are a responsible one,” said Hsu Ching-kuang, the chairman. “This is very embarrassing.”

However, Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, the CEO of BAC Consulting, said “I do not make the pagers. I am just the intermediary. I think you got it wrong” when reached on the phone by NBC News.

Around three grams of explosives are reported to have been placed into the AR-924 pagers in a sophisticated supply chain infiltration.

Israel moved to trigger the explosions because it feared the sabotage plot had been exposed, Axios news reported.

After calling a press conference at Gold Apollo’s New Taipei headquarters, Mr Ching-kuang told reporters the company was a victim of the incident, that he planned to sue BAC and that he did not know how the pagers could be rigged to explode.

He also claimed there had been problems with remittances from the firm. “The remittance was very strange,” he said, adding that payments had come through the Middle East but did not elaborate further.

Ms Barsony-Arcidiacono studied at LSE and worked for Unesco, according to her LinkedIn page. “I have with love devoted myself to science and development,” she wrote on the page.

Between 2015 and 2017, she studied politics at LSE, having earlier completed a degree in sustainable development at SOAS in London. She also recently worked with the European Commission as an “evaluation expert”, her LinkedIn said.

On the BAC consulting website, which was impossible to access by Wednesday morning, the company said it was involved in “bridging technology and innovation from Asia”. It said the firm helps telecommunications businesses in Asia scale up to reach new markets.

The company’s address was registered to a residential-looking two-storey building in Budapest. The company’s name was posted on the glass door on an A4 sheet.

The Hungarian government, led by Viktor Orban, is a staunch supporter of Israel in its fight against Hamas.

His close ties with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, led to Israel’s qualifying football matches for Euro 2024 being played in Hungary after UEFA suspended home games in the country because of security concerns.

In February, Hungary blocked a formal communique by EU foreign ministers calling on Israel not to attack Rafah. The message was sent informally on behalf of the 26 other ministers.

Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel for the sophisticated remote attack, which has raised fears that Israel’s war on Hamas could escalate into a regional conflict. 

The group used pagers to dodge intensive Israeli surveillance on Lebanese mobile phone networks.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said that, from the beginning of 2022 until August this year, Gold Apollo exported 260,000 sets of pagers, including more than 40,000 sets between January and August this year.

The ministry said the pagers were exported mainly to European and American countries and that it had no records of direct exports of Gold Apollo pagers to Lebanon.

The AR-924 pager, advertised as being “rugged”, contains a rechargeable lithium battery, according to adverts on Gold Apollo’s website, which appeared to have been taken down after the attack.

The beeper can receive texts of up to 100 characters and has up to 85 days of battery life – vital in Lebanon, where electricity blackouts are common.

Hezbollah’s pagers were meant to be safety measures, secure from Israeli eavesdropping.

Instead, they were a deadly Trojan horse.

After suffering a series of assassinations of top operatives during months of low-level war with Israel, this summer Hezbollah ordered its fighters to ditch their mobile phones. They were too easy to track and too readily compromised by Israel’s fearsome military hackers.

“If you’re looking for an Israeli agent, look at the phone in your hand,” Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s chief, warned his men.

Instead, communications would be confined to more old-fashioned means: couriers delivering messages by word of mouth.

Telecoms would be limited to 1980s-style pagers, with none of the vulnerabilities of smartphones, Hezbollah sources told Reuters in July.

Thousands of the latest and most secure models were duly procured and distributed to top fighters, officials and allies.

On Tuesday afternoon, that was revealed as a terrible blunder.

At 3.45pm local time, thousands of pagers in thousands of pockets simultaneously exploded.

By early evening, at least nine people had been confirmed killed and a staggering 2,750 injured.

The wounded reportedly included civilians as well as Hezbollah fighters although the reports could not immediately be verified. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was also seen being taken to hospital.

In one greengrocer’s store, a middle-aged man had reached the grape counter when a puff of smoke leapt from his midriff.

He fell, screaming to the floor, badly wounded by the explosion from his pocket, bag or belt. The young man serving him leapt instinctively away.

The nearest bystander, after understandably making sure he himself was unhurt, simply stood over the screaming man, as he writhed on the floor, at a loss as to what to do.

They were not alone in being non-plussed.

Ahmad Ayoud, a butcher from the Basta neighbourhood in Beirut, told The New York Times that he was in his shop when he heard explosions and saw a man in his 20s fall off a motorbike.

“We all thought he got wounded from a random shooting,” Ayoud said. “Then, a few minutes later, we started hearing of other cases. All were carrying pagers.”

Within minutes, ambulances were rushing through Beirut.

Many of the wounded, screaming in pain, were rushed to hospital on motorbikes. Doctors reported patients with bloodied hands, faces, and eyes.

Iran’s Fars news agency said Mojtaba Amani, the Iranian ambassador in Beirut, had suffered superficial injuries and was under observation in hospital.

Ziad Makary, Lebanon’s information minister, said that the government condemned the detonation of the pagers as an “Israeli aggression”.

Hezbollah blamed Israel for the pager blasts and said it would receive “its fair punishment”.

Israeli officials declined to comment.

One Hezbollah official, speaking to Reuters, described it as the “biggest security breach” the group had suffered in a year of conflict with Israel.

That does not appear to be hyperbole. The questions remain about the mechanism of the attack.

Lebanese internal security forces said a number of wireless communication devices were detonated across the country, especially in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

In today’s tech-obsessed world, the idea of some kind of mass cyber attack causing the pagers’ batteries to overheat or malfunction in some way sounds believable.

It would fit with the current dystopian zeitgeist to learn that our mobile devices are not only destroying our attention spans but could also be turned into bombs.

Fortunately, from the point of view of ordinary pager and electronics users – not to mention their manufacturers – that does not seem to be what happened.

Alan Woodward, a cyber security expert at the university of Surrey, said: “I’ve heard of Lithium ion batteries spontaneously igniting but to make it happen on demand is a different matter entirely.”

“Lithium battery fires and explosions are a general problem but this looks a bit more than this,” agreed Hamish de Bretton Gordon, a retired British Army chemical weapons expert.

“There must be some sort of ‘accelerant’ to make them combust in such a violent fashion – probably some form of high explosive, possibly 10 grams of HMX.”

HMX, also known as octogen, is a widely used military explosive. Mr Woodward guessed the attack might have used C4, another common military explosive.

That would imply a “supply chain attack” in which the perpetrators – and although they are not commenting, that almost certainly means the Israeli security services – had physical access to the devices to embed the explosive.

The impacted devices appeared to have included “rugged” pagers developed by the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, according to reporters at Bellingcat.

Security sources told Reuters that the devices had been procured in recent months.

The charge could be set to trigger on receipt of a particular message or even simply timed to explode with an old-fashioned timer, said Mr Woodward.

Ken Munro, the founder of the cyber security company Pen Test Partners, said: “I’m leaning hard towards a supply chain attack, as to remotely cause a battery to explode in such a fashion would be extremely challenging.”

Intriguingly, the attack came hours after Israel’s domestic security agency said that it had foiled a similar – though much smaller-scale – plot by Hezbollah.

Shin Bet said in a statement it had seized an explosive device attached to a remote detonation system, using a mobile phone and a camera that Hezbollah had planned to use to kill a former Israeli military official in Tel Aviv.

It said the group had planned to operate the device remotely from Lebanon.

The attack comes a day after Israel’s defence minister said that the country would take military action to return civilians to the north of the country, stoking fears of an all-out Israel-Hezbollah war.

It follows nearly a year of low-level but intensifying conflict, and came a day after the Israeli government made returning evacuated 60,000 civilians to their homes in the north of the country an official war goal.

The fighting began when Hezbollah launched strikes following Israel’s attack on Hamas in Gaza in response to the Oct 7 terrorist attacks.

The conflict has mostly been concentrated along the Lebanon-Israel border, but it has also seen Israeli air strikes across Lebanon and Hezbollah rocket strikes deep into Israel.

Although so far both sides have shied away from attacks on a scale likely to spark a full-scale war, thousands of civilians have fled from both sides of the frontier.

Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, told Amos Hochstein, a visiting US envoy, this week that the window for a negotiated end to the fighting with Hezbollah was closing.

It meant that “the only way left to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes will be via military action”.

Israel is suspected of being behind an audacious attack on Hezbollah commanders after nine people were killed and 2,750 wounded by the simultaneous explosion of pagers.

Video footage showed Hezbollah members being struck in the body and face as the pagers, which they use to communicate, blew up after seemingly being booby-trapped en masse.

Around 200 of the injured were said to be in a critical condition after what Iran-backed Hezbollah described as its biggest security breach since cross-border fighting broke out in the wake of the Oct 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, Hezbollah’s Palestinian ally.

Iran’s ambassador to Beirut was among the injured. Lebanon’s prime minister and Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attacks, with the terror group vowing revenge. The US urged restraint from Iran in response.

It came hours after Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, announced that Israel was broadening its aims in the current conflict to include the return of thousands of its citizens to homes near the border with Lebanon, which had been evacuated because of constant missile attacks.

Until now, Israel’s stated objective had been to crush Hamas and bring home the hostages seized by its terrorists during the attacks that started the war in Gaza almost a year ago.

Fears of a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah – which controls southern Lebanon – have been growing after Israel warned the US on Monday that the chance of a diplomatic solution to the conflict on its northern border was fading.

Mr Netanyahu has spoken of the need for a “fundamental change” to the security situation on the border.

It is unclear whether the pagers attack – for which Hezbollah said it held Israel “fully responsible” – was designed to weaken the terror group before a possible invasion or was simply a show of strength by the embattled Mr Netanyahu to appease hawks in his country.

Hezbollah responded by saying that Israel “will certainly receive its just punishment for this sinful aggression”.

The affected pagers were from a new shipment that was received by Hezbollah in the last few days, multiple sources reported. A Hezbollah official said hundreds of fighters had the devices.

The attack was co-ordinated for 3.30pm local time (1.30pm UK) and according to reports the pagers beeped for several seconds before exploding.

The pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from the leadership of Hezbollah, The New York Times reported, citing a US official.

Explosive material was hidden in pagers and shipped to Lebanon, according to the newspaper.

Officials said one to two ounces of explosive material were hidden in each pager next to the battery along with a switch that could remotely detonate the device.

About 3,000 AP924 pagers had been ordered from a company in Europe and many of them were tampered with before Hezbollah received them.

Hezbollah had instructed its members to avoid mobile phones after the Gaza war began and to instead rely on pagers to prevent Israel from intercepting communications.

Prof Alan Woodward, a cyber security expert at the University of Surrey, told The Telegraph: “A tiny amount of explosive can injure badly, especially when right next to the body. If this proves to be real, I don’t think it’s a cyber attack, but rather an old-fashioned explosive booby trap.

“I’ve heard of lithium ion batteries spontaneously igniting, but to make it happen on demand is a different matter entirely.”

Pager explosions also injured Hezbollah members in Syria, Iranian media reported. There were unconfirmed reports of deaths as well, and seven people reported to have been injured in Damascus.

The son of a Lebanese member of parliament was killed, while Mojtaba Amani, Iran’s ambassador to Beirut, and two of his bodyguards were injured when a pager exploded in Lebanon.

Video footage showed one man’s device appearing to explode in a bag slung over his shoulder while he shopped in a supermarket, and bleeding men were seen lying on the streets in the city of Baalbek.

Firas al-Abyad, Lebanon’s health minister, said more than 100 hospitals in Lebanon had received wounded patients after blasts across the country.

Among the dead was the 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member. The girl was killed when her father’s pager exploded as she was standing beside him, her family and a source close to Hezbollah said.

Explosions also occurred in the Dahiya neighbourhood in Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold where a top commander was assassinated by Israel in July, and in the eastern Bekaa Valley, according to a Hezbollah spokesman.

Lebanon’s foreign ministry said it had prepared “a complaint to submit to the United Nations Security Council,” as the country’s prime minister called it “a serious violation of our sovereignty”.

Israeli officials told The Telegraph they had been instructed not to comment on the attacks in Lebanon, but Topaz Luk, a close adviser of Mr Netanyhau, retweeted a post from an Israeli journalist who predicted that the prime minister would not launch a major attack in Lebanon before flying to New York next week. “This didn’t age well,” Mr Luk responded.

Mr Netanyahu’s office quickly issued a statement in which it said Mr Luk “hasn’t been serving as the prime minister’s spokesman for a few months now, and isn’t in the close circle of discussion”.

On Tuesday, the US said it was not aware in advance and had no involvement in the mass explosions as it urged restraint by Iran.

“I can tell you that the US was not involved in it, the US was not aware of this incident in advance and, at this point, we’re gathering information,” Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman, told reporters. “We would urge Iran not to take advantage of any incident to try to add further instability and to further increase tensions in the region.”

Residents of three Israeli towns near the Lebanese border were asked to stay near bomb shelters shortly after the attacks in Lebanon because of the “unique security situation”.

The Foreign Office on Tuesday night called for “calm heads and de-escalation”.

A UN spokesman said the developments in Lebanon were extremely concerning, especially given the “extremely volatile” situation in the Middle East.

Mr Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his defence minister, held discussions at the defence ministry’s HQ at the Kirya base in Tel Aviv about how Israel should respond to a potential escalation by Hezbollah.

The prime minister said on Sunday that the “current situation” in the north, with daily attacks from Hezbollah, “will not continue”, adding: “This requires a change in the balance of forces on our northern border.”

Mr Gallant informed Lloyd Austin, his American counterpart, that hopes for a diplomatic solution were dwindling and a full-scale war was looming, blaming Hezbollah’s ongoing position of “tying itself” to Hamas.

“The trajectory is clear,” said Mr Gallant, indicating that Israel would have to go to war with Hezbollah to end the rocket and drone attacks. He had previously warned Hezbollah that Israel would take Lebanon “back to the Stone Age” in the event of a full-blown war.

On Monday, Israeli officials announced they had uncovered a Hezbollah plot to assassinate a former security official with a remotely operated bomb.

On Tuesday, hundreds of Hezbollah operatives were maimed and injured as their pagers simultaneously exploded.

The exact details of what happened in Beirut and its surrounds will be pored over for years to come but – innovation aside – it is really just another chapter in the oldest book. It’s power politics through terror; communication through slaughter; a modern and grossly lopsided version of the Biblical idiom “an eye for an eye”.

If you are in the neighbourhood and let on that you are repulsed by it, you’ll be told to toughen up. Or, as it was put to me recently: “You white boys don’t get it. Strength is the language of the Middle East. The only language they understand.” You hear the same message from both sides.

Some think that Tuesday’s pager attack is a prelude to all-out war. Israel and Hezbollah have been trading blows for nearly a year across the Israel-Lebanon border and there is no doubt things have been hotting up, with strikes on both sides increasing in intensity and reaching ever deeper into each other’s territory.

Losses are also mounting. Hezbollah has lost some 600 fighters, while casualties on the Israeli side are much lower at 46, but the country has lost a large chunk of land.

Since the start of the war on Oct 7, it has had to evacuate more than 60,000 people from an area of about 650 square kilometres along the Lebanon border because of Hezbollah’s rockets.

Within Israel, this is causing Benjamin Netanyahu’s government extreme discomfort. How could a leader who promised “absolute victory” in the wake of Oct 7 preside over the loss of about 3 per cent of the country’s most productive land?

In recent days, it has been reported that Mr Netanyahu was plotting the sacking of Yoav Gallant, his defence minister, so that Israel could launch a land invasion of southern Lebanon. Mr Gallant, it was said by the prime minister’s people, had long opposed such an action, while Mr Netanyahu was all for it.

It is unclear how much, if any of this is true. It was previously thought that Mr Gallant was the hawk when it came to Lebanon and Mr Netanyahu the dove. Indeed, Mr Gallant is said to have argued for war to be declared on Hezbollah in the immediate aftermath of the Oct 7 attack.

Mr Netanyahu, on the other hand, is regarded by the Israeli defence establishment as an “operations guy” – someone who prefers a quick “mowing of the lawn” to all-out war which comes with much greater military and geo-political risks, as he has found in Gaza.

In this context, the pager strike seems more likely to have been ordered by Mr Netanyahu, not as a prelude or provocation for a war in the north, but as an alternative to it; an operation that satisfies both the perceived military need to respond to Hezbollah’s assassination plot and his own need to please his increasingly warlike core.

The first major survey of Israeli and Palestinian attitudes post-Oct 7 published last week found that 45 per cent of Israeli Jews would prefer entering a full-scale regional war, including Iran, than agree to a peace deal that includes an independent Palestinian state.

The pager attack, which according to Lebanese health ministry data killed at least nine people and injured around 2,750, will certainly go some way to satiating that desire for robust action – for the time being at least.

In Lebanon, on the other hand, it will only increase pressure for revenge, and perhaps a full-scale Hezbollah attack on Israel.

The imagery circulating on social media is extreme, much of it involving innocent bystanders, including children. People with limbs and genitals blown off; others with eyes and even entire faces missing.

Will it prove a provocation too far and cause Iran to finally unleash its Lebanese proxy? Who knows. The only thing you can say for certain is that the cycle of violence in the Middle East is not going to end any time soon.

A 64-year-old woman has been rescued from the tightening clutches of a massive python after her neighbours were alerted to her whimpers.

The hospital maid was washing dishes at the back of her home on the outskirts of Bangkok when the four-metre-long snake attacked on Tuesday evening.

The woman, named as Arom by local media, was unable to break free from the massive python – estimated to weigh at least 20kg – after it bit her legs, pushed her to the ground, and wrapped itself around her waist.

A neighbour called the police and the Poh Teck Tung Foundation, a rescue service, after they heard the woman’s calls for help. After forcing their way into the house, it took the team more than half an hour to free Arom – who by this point was barely conscious.

“I have never encountered an event like this in my life,” Arom, a hospital maid, told The Nation, which published photos of her right thigh covered in snake bites. The woman is recovering in hospital, while the snake escaped into the reeds behind her home.

Videos of the scene show the rescuers arriving with torches and finding Arom trapped on the floor. It is not clear how she was freed exactly, but pythons can be removed by carefully unwinding them from tail to head.

Pythons are not venomous, but wounds can become infected. Instead, the reptiles are constrictor snakes, which kill their prey by gradually squeezing away their breath, before unhinging their jaws to swallow them whole.

Thailand is home to several python species – including the reticulated python, the world’s longest snake – and locals are no strangers to attacks. Several years ago a python was filmed regurgitating a pet dog in the country’s south, while up to 80 per cent of calls to emergency hotlines in Bangkok relate to python sightings.

The country is also home to more than 40 venomous species, from cobras to the Malayan pit viper, and the capital hosts one of the region’s largest anti-venom production “farms”. Across Asia, roughly 242,600 people are bitten and 15,900 die from snake bites every year.

Snake bite is considered a neglected issue worldwide, in part because anti-venoms are expensive, laborious to produce, and can often trigger serious allergic reactions. There is now a major push to improve these treatments, or even develop a universal antivenom.

Footage of the moment the wreckage of the Titan submersible was found has been released as part of a public hearing into the deaths of the five people on board.

The search for the vessel, operated by US diving company OceanGate, ended with no survivors being found after it disappeared during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic in June last year.

The video, released by the US Coast Guard, shows the Titan’s wrecked tail cone on the bed of the Atlantic Ocean. Fragments of debris and a knot of wires can also be seen close to the wreckage in the footage, which was captured by recovery crews.

The Titan imploded about two hours into its descent to the Titanic, with intense ocean pressure causing it to collapse in on itself off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

The five people killed were Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of the vessel’s operator, Hamish Harding, a British explorer, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French diver, and Shahzada Dawood, a British-Pakistani businessman, and his 19-year-old son Suleman.

An inquiry into the doomed final descent, held in South Carolina, is expected to last two weeks. 

Among the last words heard from the crew were “all good here”, it emerged on Monday. The crew lost radio contact with a support team on the surface after an exchange of texts about the submersible’s depth and weight.

The disappearance prompted a deep-sea search amid immediate fears for oxygen levels and the safety of the five people on board. The US Coast Guard had estimated that if the Titan was not breached the oxygen in the submersible was likely to last from 70 to 96 hours.

The exact cause of the implosion is still under investigation, but there has been intense scrutiny of Seattle-based OceanGate’s past legal and regulatory battles.

David Lochridge, the company’s former director of marine operations, was sacked in 2018 and subsequently sued by the company after he became a whistleblower over safety concerns about the Titan.

On Tuesday, Mr Lochridge told the inquiry that the tragedy could have been prevented if US safety authorities had listened to his warnings. He also criticised OceanGate’s company culture as being obsessed with “making money” and offering “very little in the way of science”.

Sir John Major has criticised the previous government’s Rwanda scheme, calling it “un-Conservative and un-British”.

The former prime minister said he disliked “intensely the way society has come to regard immigration as an ill” and warned that a Tory merger with Reform UK would be “fatal”.

In an interview with the BBC’s Amol Rajan, Sir John said: “I thought it [the Rwanda scheme] was un-Conservative, un-British, if one dare say in a secular society, un-Christian, and unconscionable, and I thought that this is really not the way to treat people.

“We used to transport people, nearly 300 years ago, from our country. Felons, who at least have had a trial and been found guilty of something, albeit that the trial might have been cursory. I don’t think transportation – for that is what it is – is a policy suitable for the 21st century.”

The Rwanda policy, scrapped by Sir Keir Starmer in July, aimed to deter asylum seekers by sending those who arrived in the UK illegally to the East African country. The Government has announced that money allocated to pay for the scheme will go towards its Border Security Command.

Asked whether the Rwanda policy acted as a deterrent, Sir John replied: “Are they seriously saying to me that, somewhere in the back woods of some North African country, they actually know what the British Parliament has legislated for? I think not.”

He added that people who come to the UK on small boats do so “because they’re not quite sure where to go”.

Sir John, who served as prime minister from November 1990 to May 1997, said he had not decided which Tory leadership contender to support, with Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat standing.

He said: “I would like to support someone who’s going to look at the long-term problems and make a suggestion as to which direction we should go and bring people back into the party who are genuinely centre-Right.

“The only party that can legitimately appeal to the centre right is the Conservative Party. And that is what we have to do, we have to decide where our natural support really lies and appeal to them.

“People may have made a misjudgment about the last election. We lost five votes [seats] to Reform UK and people are jumping up and down, and some rather reckless people are saying ‘well we must merge with them’. Well, that will be fatal.

“I do think traditionally we have been a common sense party. And I’m optimistic. I think we have had such a bad defeat, we have got a base upon which we can build, in a wholly new and, I think, potentially effective way.”

Asked whether Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, should join the Tory party, Sir John said he does not “share that view”, adding: “I don’t think he’s a Conservative, and he’s spent most of his time in the last few years telling people how much he dislikes the Conservative Party and would like to destroy it.

“I don’t think that’s a terribly good background for bringing someone into the party.”

Drivers have been fined more than £322 million after Sadiq Khan’s Ulez expansion, new figures show.

Nearly 1.8 million penalty charge notices were issued between Aug 29 last year and the end of June, according to analysis of Transport for London (TfL) statistics.

The value of these at the point of issue was £322.8 million. TfL’s penalty charge notices carry a fine of £180 each, reduced to £90 if paid within 14 days.

The organisation’s figures suggest it received approximately £176 million from drivers who did pay Ulez fees over the same period.

It previously said all money received from the scheme was “reinvested into improving London’s public transport network”, such as expanding bus routes in outer London.

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, made the low-emission zone almost four times larger, covering all the capital’s boroughs, in August last year. 

Mr Khan said the move, which created the world’s biggest pollution charging zone, was “a difficult decision” but vital to tackle air pollution.

For petrol cars to meet Ulez standards – based on emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter – they must generally have been first registered after 2005. Most diesel cars registered after September 2015 are also exempt from the charge.

Drivers who enter the zone in a non-compliant vehicle are required to pay a £12.50 daily fee unless they are exempt, such as taxis or transport for disabled people. Failing to pay the charge by midnight on the third day following a journey risks incurring a fine.

TfL initially sent warning letters to vehicle owners for non-payment following the Ulez expansion but began issuing penalty charg notices on Sep 26 last year. Its figures do not show how many were paid, and in what timeframe.

Failure to pay a PCN or make a representation within 28 days leads to the sum increasing to £270.

Jack Cousens, the head of roads policy at the AA, described the amount of fines as “astonishing” and claimed it would “reinforce concerns” that the Ulez was expanded to generate income for the Mayor.

He said: “The ruthlessness of enforcement when a first-time warning letter might achieve the desired effect for most motorists, especially those living outside the zone, remains an issue. Ulez signage has been accused of not giving enough direction to drivers unfamiliar with those roads.”

‘Eye-watering numbers’

Steve Gooding, the director of motoring research at the RAC Foundation, said: “These eye-watering numbers beg the question whether the rules and consequences of the ultra-low emission zones are clear enough, particularly to those not routinely driving into London.

“If the objective is compliance to deliver cleaner air, then TfL needs both to focus on whether its messaging is sufficiently clear, and whether the 14 million payments it received for non-compliant vehicles is saying something inconvenient about the economics and practicality of getting more drivers into more modern, more expensive but cleaner vehicles.”

Research published by City Hall in July found that NOx emissions from cars in outer London were 13 per cent below a scenario where Ulez was not expanded.

The report into the impact of Ulez expansion during the first six months found the proportion of compliant vehicles being used on the capital’s roads in February was 96.2 per cent, up from 91.6 per cent in June 2023.

TfL insisted all the signs required for enforcing the scheme meet Department for Transport standards and guidelines.

Alex Williams, the TfL chief customer and strategy officer, said the zone was expanded to tackle “the triple challenges of air pollution, the climate emergency and traffic congestion”.

He added: “Any income generated from the scheme is being reinvested back into public transport, including improving bus routes in outer London. The expanded Ulez will lead to cleaner air while generating ever smaller net revenues, as has been the case with the previous expansion to inner London where people switched to greener vehicles.”

A man died after he accidentally stabbed himself while trying to separate two frozen burgers with a knife, an inquest has heard.

Barry Griffiths, 57, is believed to have sustained a fatal wound to his stomach while parting the frozen-hard burgers with the utensil.

The inquest heard he lived alone and lay dead for several days before being discovered with a trail of blood around his kitchen and bedroom.

The inquest heard he was found in his flat in Llandrindod Wells, Powys, and a post-mortem examination revealed that he died from a stab wound.

His body was found in July last year after concerns were raised that he hadn’t been seen for more than a week.

Mr Griffiths, who was described as a “very private man”, was found on his bed at his supported living accommodation fully clothed and with blood on his swollen stomach.

His phone, wallet and computer remained in place and there was no sign of any disturbance at the first-floor flat. There was blood in the hallway, bathroom and bedroom.

Detective Chief Inspector Jonathan Rees said: “The bottom drawer of the freezer had been left open and pulled forward in a position to access food items.

“On the work surface in the kitchen adjacent to the fridge-freezer were two uncooked burgers, a knife and a tea towel.

“The wound to the abdomen would have been approximately the height of the work surface. My hypothesis at that stage was that Mr Griffiths was attempting to separate frozen burgers using a knife.”

Detective Sergeant Stephen Vaughan said that he was satisfied that it was not a suicide but “more of an unexplained death” and that there was no indication he had been assaulted.

Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Jones gave the cause of death as blood loss through sharp force injury.

Statements, house-to-house enquiries, and checks on Mr Griffiths’s finances and digital devices were made which ruled out any third-party involvement.

DCI Rees said that the tip of a kitchen knife, which was marked with a substance initially identified as chocolate, turned out to be Mr Griffiths’s blood.

Coroner Patricia Morgan concluded that Mr Griffiths, who had restricted use of one arm following a stroke, most likely died from an accident while preparing frozen food for cooking.

Mrs Morgan said Mr Griffiths, who led a “relatively private life with limited contact with others”, lay dead for several days from a single stab wound.

A Labour-run council in Wales has scrapped free transport for nursery and sixth form pupils but made an exception for Welsh-speaking schools.

Bridgend county borough council said it had made the “reluctant” decision to stop providing travel for children aged four or under and those 16 or over.

However, the local authority will continue to lay on transport free of charge for pupils who attend Welsh-medium schools, where pupils are taught and converse in Welsh, and free schools.

The changes will take effect from the start of the next full school year in September 2025. 

On its website, Bridgend council said: “Free transport for nursery pupils and post-16 learners will no longer be available, but will continue for those attending Welsh-medium and faith schools who live beyond the qualifying distances.

“Council opted to defer a further proposal – to offer parents and carers of pupils with additional learning needs ‘personal transport budgets’ for making their own arrangements to transport children to school – in order to allow further research to be carried out.”

Natasha Asghar, the Welsh Conservative shadow transport minister, accused the council of making a “shocking” decision.

She said: “For a council to continue providing transport services to a select group of pupils is discriminatory. All pupils should be treated equally regardless of the language they speak or the faith that they practise.

“The Labour Government must intervene here to ensure all pupils are offered equal access to school transport.”

Tom Giffard, the Welsh Conservative education minister, added: “This is a very concerning precedent set by the Labour-run council, school transport should be offered equally to all pupils in the area.

“The council cannot discriminate against people based on language or faith. Absenteeism is already soaring and this measure will do nothing to encourage pupils to attend school.

“That is why I have submitted a topical question in the Senedd today, to seek urgent answers on this issue.”

The local authority in Bridgend, which has had a Labour majority since 2022, also launched a tightening on second-home owners earlier this year. 

In April, it announced a 200 per cent surcharge payable by residents who own more than one home. This will rise to 300 per cent, which is one of the highest levels in Wales, in two years’ time.

Budget cuts ‘inevitable’

John Spanswick, the leader of Bridgend council, said further budget cuts were “inevitable”. 

Mr Spanswick claimed the council had endured “14 consecutive years of carefully managing shrinking resources” under the Conservative government at Westminster.

“The council has been fast approaching a point where it is not going to be possible to save money while also shielding people from feeling the full impact of increasingly significant cuts,” he said.

“Unfortunately, that point has now arrived, and learner transport is one of the areas that has been affected. Until the national funding crisis can be resolved, further reluctant changes to popular council services such as this are sadly going to be inevitable.”

Bridgend county borough council was contacted for further comment.

A prolific shoplifter has been banned from every shop across two counties after receiving her 171st conviction.

Tanya Liddle, who has previously been described as a “one woman crimewave”, has been arrested almost 400 times.

The 43-year-old has gained notoriety for wearing disguises and plaguing shopkeepers, accumulating 150 shoplifting convictions alone.

Northumbria Police successfully applied for a civil injunction against Liddle at a hearing at Newcastle Civil Court last Thursday.

The order is the strictest of its kind issued in the Northumbria Police area, which stretches from the Scottish border in Northumberland to Sunderland.

Liddle, from Newcastle, has been banned from entering all retail premises within the 2,000 square mile area, except for one pharmacy, one supermarket and one clothing retailer.

Should Liddle ignore the terms and conditions of her order, she faces arrest and a possible jail term.

One of Liddle’s latest offences was carried out on April 24, when she stole £1,500 worth of designer bags from a TK Maxx on Westmorland Retail Park in Cramlington.

Liddle, donning a large floppy hat, casually walked out the store without speaking to staff.

Inspector Patrick Hannon said: “We are pleased to have secured this order, which is thanks to the excellent and tireless work of our officers.

“Liddle has consistently targeted retailers for a number of years and exhausted every opportunity given to her to change her ways.

“With that in mind, we feel that this is the best way to manage her offending.

“The severity of this order demonstrates the seriousness of her criminality and the significant impact it has had on the retail community within the region, which is something we will simply not accept.

“I hope this ruling sends a clear message to other shoplifters that your behaviour will not be tolerated and you will be brought to justice.

“I’d like to reassure the public that should we find Liddle to be in a premises she shouldn’t be, we will not hesitate to take action and get her arrested.

“We hope that this news offers reassurance to the wider community and, as a Force, we will continue to do everything in our power to act on concerns reported and bring effective justice against prolific offenders.”

In 2016, Liddle was sentenced to 15 months in prison after admitting charges of theft and affray.

On sentencing Liddle at the time, Judge Peter Davies, said: “You have 122 convictions for 357 offences, most minor nuisance crimes. You are a one-woman crimewave.”

It started with a dachshund in a dress, and ended with a legal case that has cost taxpayers thousands. Elizabeth Pitt, 63, a social worker, has won her 10-month legal battle against Cambridgeshire County Council for harassment and direct discrimination, after she was investigated for being transphobic.

“The whole thing has been a Kafkaesque nightmare,” she says. “I didn’t want to complain about anything, I just wanted to get on with my job. These people accusing me of transphobia thought they needed sympathy and empathy but in fact it was my rights which were being impinged. This all comes down to basic common sense.”

The case started back in 2022 when Pitt attended an LGBTQ meeting. “We were talking about doing a presentation to the whole county – everyone from bin men to admin staff – about how to support LGBT rights,” she says. “I made the point that I’m a lesbian and I’m not attracted to men who identify as women. I was reported for being transphobic and had a call from HR but it never went anywhere.”

Pitt says she tried to stay away from those who had different views to her and thought that this was nothing she hadn’t experienced before. “I’m in my sixties so I’ve been through feminism, and Section 28 [which prohibited the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality by schools and councils],” she says. “I’ve experienced misogyny and homophobia. But I’m inclusive. I can work with anybody and I can get the best out of people.”

But in January 2023, Pitt was in another LGBTQ meeting on Zoom in which a younger male colleague had held up his “gender-fluid dog”, named Pablo, in a dress. “I joined the meeting late, so I wasn’t even in the meeting when the dog in the frock happened, but apparently one of my colleagues said ‘He’s got a c–k so he’s a male,’” she recalls. “I was told what had happened and the tone of the meeting had been set. At one point I asked ‘Does anyone believe there’s more than two sexes?’ and was told ‘Yes it’s a spectrum’. I said ‘I don’t believe it’.”

Pitt says she doesn’t like to use pronouns as she believes they’re sexist and homophobic, and said that she resented having to use them in documentation at work and would actively remove them. “I just want to be treated as me, I don’t need to shove my sexuality down everyone’s throats,” she says.

After the meeting, Pitt, who qualified as a social worker in 2007 and specialises in the gap between health and social care, says she tried to get on with her job, but she was reported for voicing gender-critical views. One colleague was said to be left “shaking in disbelief” and another complained that it gave them “anxiety dreams”.

“Apparently they were terrified of me and my working practices,” she says. “They were saying things like ‘How would she be able to work with a trans person?’ but I’ve put my personal views aside to work with all kinds of people – murderers, rapists. I’m a considerate professional.”

In April, Pitt was informed that the council were formally investigating her. “I was treated abysmally,” she says. “Being accused of transphobia is like being accused of racism – it was a massive stress. The whole process was ridiculous. They were saying, ‘Tell me what you’ve done’ and I was saying ‘What do you think I’ve done?’ They tried to claim that it wasn’t what I said but the way I said it.” 

She was then banned from the LGBT network. “I was totally shocked and incensed,” she says. “I don’t like that men who identify as women are in lesbian spaces, both online and in real life. You’ve got men who identify as women going to lesbian gigs. You’ve got women who identify as men going to gay saunas. These spaces are sacred. If you’re not gay you don’t understand it. But being a lesbian is protected in the Equality Act, which I knew very well from my work as a social worker. They were bullying me. It’s a mind game to turn it around and make me the oppressor and the transphobe. And they couldn’t actually tell me what I’d said or done that was transphobic.”

The next few months were spent “trying to fight and manage myself and my stressful job” but Pitt says she felt like she was constantly being “watched”. She went on sick leave suffering from anxiety. “The last straw was when I got a letter from the staff network saying I was banned from being a rep for the LGBT community,” she recalls. “That was something that was really important to me. I blew a gasket.”

She found a barrister who was willing to work with her and filed a formal complaint against the council. “It was a very difficult decision,” she says. “I knew it could mean that I lost my job, and I love my job. But I did want it to be a case that would be seen by the public. Workers can’t be treated like this, we all need to be protected.”

A friend suggested Pitt crowdfund the money to take her case to court. She eventually raised over £51,000. “So many people understood and supported me,” she says. “Thousands of people made small donations, whatever they could afford, but there were also a few big donations around £1,000 and £500. Martina Navratilova and Sharon Davis supported it on Twitter. A lot of sportswomen got behind me, I think they understood the unfairness of it, and the fact that I believe men who identify as women shouldn’t participate in womens’ sport.”

After months’ of hearings, the case made it to the tribunal, but Cambridge County Council conceded liability half an hour before the case was due to go to court. A spokesperson for CCC said: “After taking full and detailed legal advice on the merits of the case and the issues involved, the county council admitted legal liability and didn’t further defend the case. We strive to create a safe, inclusive and compassionate environment for people to work in and recognise this needs to be balanced with everyone being entitled to express their own views and beliefs. We will reflect carefully on this final outcome, as well as undertaking a review of our policies and procedures accordingly.”

Employment judge Paul Michell awarded Pitt £8,000 in legal costs, £30,000 in loss of earnings and £22,000 compensation for injury to feelings which, with interest added, totalled £55,910. But she says it was never about the money. “The council never had a case in the first place and it should never have come to this,” she says. “Everyone who pays council tax – myself included – has paid for this case.”

Pitt believes that the council and many other workplaces have been badly advised by Stonewall (the LGBT rights charity which runs workplace training) and that the trans movement is “just short of a cult”.

“I still stand by what I said. I’m same-sex attracted. For a man to say he’s a woman and is attracted to women and is a lesbian is nonsense,” she says. “If a man wants to live as a woman then do as you will, but if a man wants to say he’s a lesbian – no, that’s the boundary. Trans people can have their own groups.”

Although Pitt says she can sympathise with people who believe they’re a different gender, she finds the idea that you are born in the “wrong body” to be “disturbing”.

“That’s your body,” she says. “I really think a lot of the social work supporting trans children is tantamount to child abuse. I think language is being captured and people daren’t say anything because they can’t afford to lose their jobs. I couldn’t afford to lose mine, but they made my situation untenable.”

She is unsure what she’ll do next. “These were my good pension years and I’m not sure I can go back to social work,” she says. “I can’t work in Cambridge so I’d have to travel and I don’t feel able to step back into it. Sometimes it feels like there’s a big black hole that I’m going to fall into.” Her only hope is that this case will help others. “If people who can do something don’t do it then nothing will change, it will only get worse.”

A prolific shoplifter has been banned from every shop across two counties after receiving her 171st conviction.

Tanya Liddle, who has previously been described as a “one woman crimewave”, has been arrested almost 400 times.

The 43-year-old has gained notoriety for wearing disguises and plaguing shopkeepers, accumulating 150 shoplifting convictions alone.

Northumbria Police successfully applied for a civil injunction against Liddle at a hearing at Newcastle Civil Court last Thursday.

The order is the strictest of its kind issued in the Northumbria Police area, which stretches from the Scottish border in Northumberland to Sunderland.

Liddle, from Newcastle, has been banned from entering all retail premises within the 2,000 square mile area, except for one pharmacy, one supermarket and one clothing retailer.

Should Liddle ignore the terms and conditions of her order, she faces arrest and a possible jail term.

One of Liddle’s latest offences was carried out on April 24, when she stole £1,500 worth of designer bags from a TK Maxx on Westmorland Retail Park in Cramlington.

Liddle, donning a large floppy hat, casually walked out the store without speaking to staff.

Inspector Patrick Hannon said: “We are pleased to have secured this order, which is thanks to the excellent and tireless work of our officers.

“Liddle has consistently targeted retailers for a number of years and exhausted every opportunity given to her to change her ways.

“With that in mind, we feel that this is the best way to manage her offending.

“The severity of this order demonstrates the seriousness of her criminality and the significant impact it has had on the retail community within the region, which is something we will simply not accept.

“I hope this ruling sends a clear message to other shoplifters that your behaviour will not be tolerated and you will be brought to justice.

“I’d like to reassure the public that should we find Liddle to be in a premises she shouldn’t be, we will not hesitate to take action and get her arrested.

“We hope that this news offers reassurance to the wider community and, as a Force, we will continue to do everything in our power to act on concerns reported and bring effective justice against prolific offenders.”

In 2016, Liddle was sentenced to 15 months in prison after admitting charges of theft and affray.

On sentencing Liddle at the time, Judge Peter Davies, said: “You have 122 convictions for 357 offences, most minor nuisance crimes. You are a one-woman crimewave.”

A metal detectorist pensioner who discovered a hoard of gold coins in a field said he was speechless after they sold for more than £100,000.

Tony Asquith unearthed what looked like “a pile of chocolate buttons” while searching a recently ploughed field in Lenham, Kent, in August 2022.

After putting on his glasses he realised that he had discovered 35 gold coins covered in mud.

The coins – known as Staters – dated back to around 55BC, a time when the Roman emperor Julius Caesar had already conquered Gaul and was attempting to conquer Britain.

The collection of coins had been valued at £20,000 prior to auction but were eventually sold on Wednesday for £103,000, at Noonans, in London.

Mr Asquith, who has been a metal detectorist for 45 years, said: “I am speechless at the result and can’t believe it.”

He first detected wire and shotgun cartridge , but as he dug down he unearthed the historic hoard during a rally in August 2022.

The coins were concealed inside a flint nodule which had broken open when the field was ploughed.

They depict a horse galloping to the right with a charioteer’s arm above.

Mr Asquith said: “It was an amazing find. The recent ploughing of the field must have brought the nodule to the surface, and broke it open, scattering its contents of coins.”

Nigel Mills, coins and artefacts specialist at Noonans, said: “Using his Minelab Equinox 800, Tony at first just found some wire and a shotgun cartridge.

“But then, he got a signal which revealed a brownish coin. He was surprised to recognise this as a Celtic Stater.

“On looking down he saw what looked like a pile of chocolate buttons laid out. Putting on his glasses, he realised that they were all Celtic Staters.

“The coins were concealed within a flint nodule which was formed between 70-90 million years ago.

“The hollow interior would originally have contained mud and the decayed remains of marine animals.

“Ten other hoards of Iron Age gold coins contained in flint nodules have been found in Britain, but all of them are in museums.”

The US government is suing the owner of the container ship that struck and destroyed the iconic Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in March.

The Department of Justice announced on Thursday it was pursuing a civil negligence case against Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy, the owner and operator of the Dali ship.

The department says the tragedy, which killed six, was “avoidable” and is calling for the companies to pay $100 million in cleanup costs.

In a briefing on Thursday, lawyers for the government told reporters that the two companies were “prioritising profit over safety” and that they, “not the American taxpayer” should cover the costs of the disaster.

The bridge, which had stood since 1972, collapsed entirely after it was struck by the Dali in the night on March 26.

The accident occurred when the ship lost power shortly after leaving Baltimore Port, one of the US East Coast’s largest container hubs and drifted to the side of the channel.

Six workers who were on the bridge fell into the water and died. Some bodies were not recovered for days as investigators and rescue teams dug through the mangled wreckage of the bridge in the water.

In court documents filed by the DOJ, the government’s lawyers said both an officer and a captain of the ship had previously reported issues to Synergy, the operator. They said it should have come as “no surprise” that the power outage tripped the ship’s circuit breakers, preventing it from stopping.

They said negligence by both companies had caused a “cascading series of failures” that resulted in the bridge’s collapse.

The issues included that the ship’s emergency generator did not activate within 45 seconds, as required by US maritime safety law. The ship took more than a minute to regain power, then lost it again.

“As events unfolded, and because of the unseaworthy condition of the ship, none of the four means available to help control the Dali – her propeller, rudder, anchor, or bow thruster – worked when they were needed to avert or even mitigate this disaster,” the lawsuit said.

“This second power failure was caused by Petitioners’ decision – made to save money and for their own convenience – to use a ‘flushing’ pump to fuel the diesel generators that made the ship’s electricity,” it adds.

The government is also arguing that the companies’ claim for limited liability, filed in the aftermath of the disaster, are not valid under maritime law.

The DOJ is seeking punitive damages it says will partially recover the cost of the cleanup operation, and discourage companies from breaking safety regulations in future.

The co-founder of Palestine Action urged activists to “smash Israeli weapons factories” in pro-Gaza protest speeches after the Oct 7 Hamas terror attack, a court has heard.

Richard Barnard appeared in court on Wednesday on charges of encouraging criminal damage and expressing support for Hamas at two pro-Palestinian rallies last October.

The 51-year-old, who was wearing a red and white keffiyeh scarf and had hundreds of supporters outside Westminster magistrates’ court, spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth.

Mr Barnard is an Extinction Rebellion activist who co-founded Palestine Action with Huda Ammori, a former campaigns officer at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, in 2020.

The court heard that the group “targets Israeli-owned companies with sites in the UK”, including Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms firm.

Mr Barnard is accused of encouraging two pro-Palestinian crowds to damage Israeli weapons factories and expressing support for Hamas in two speeches he made in the aftermath of the Oct 7 attacks.

‘Direct action’

Tom Williams, prosecuting, told the court: “On October 8, he made a speech at a pro-Palestinian rally in Manchester – there were about 200 to 250 people there at its busiest.

“In the speech, he said in summary that politicians, petitions and protest are not the answer. He explained that Palestine Action takes direct action. He referred to smashing Israeli weapons factories up.”

The court heard that Mr Barnard told the crowd: “You have to go away from here and know this is just the start.”

Mr Williams said Mr Barnard made a second speech “in similar circumstances” in Bradford, West Yorkshire, on Oct 11, in which he made reference to Palestine Action “blockading” Elbit Systems.

He is also alleged to have talked about the Teledyne factory in Shipley, West Yorkshire, which manufactures missile filters for missile systems. He was accused of saying: “We have plenty enough people here to stop that factory working day after day after day.”

District Judge Neeta Minhas released Barnard on unconditional bail ahead of a plea and trial preparation hearing at the Old Bailey on Oct 4.

The first charge alleges that, on Oct 8 last year, Barnard did an act capable of encouraging the commission of an offence, namely criminal damage, and intended to encourage its commission.

The second states that he expressed an opinion or belief that was supportive of a proscribed organisation, namely Hamas, being reckless as to whether it encouraged support of that organisation, contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000. The third refers to encouraging the commission of an offence in Bradford on Oct 11.

Sir Keir Starmer’s administration has already “completely demolished” Labour’s claim that Scotland does not need independence, John Swinney said on Wednesday as he tried to revive the SNP’s push for separation.

Speaking on the tenth anniversary of the 2014 referendum, the First Minister said it had only taken 10-weeks to destroy Labour’s argument that “all we need to do is get rid of the Tories”.

He cited the UK Government’s decision to means-test winter fuel payments south of the border, despite SNP ministers making the same political choice in Scotland.

Mr Swinney argued that Sir Keir’s tenure in Downing Street showed that “the problem for Scotland is government from Westminster”, rather than which party was in charge.

But he admitted that support for independence would have to increase from its current levels if Scotland was to leave the UK, with polls showing it had not increased above the 45 per cent recorded in the 2014 referendum.

In a major shift in strategy, he said nationalists should start talking to “everyone in Scotland”, including Unionists, to drum up support for independence.

Sources close to the First Minister confirmed this was an admission that Nicola Sturgeon’s attempts to use parliamentary and legal processes, such as her failed UK Supreme Court case, to force a second referendum had failed.

They did not say what level of sustained public support for independence would justify another referendum, instead citing the former Scottish secretary’s “duck test”.

Sir Alister Jack told the Commons Scottish affairs committee in Nov 2022: “If it looks like a duck and it sounds like a duck and it waddles like a duck then it’s probably a duck. People know when they’ve reached that point.”

However, Holyrood’s opposition parties have urged Mr Swinney to focus instead on issues such as Scotland’s record NHS waiting lists, the economy and the education system.

School pupils have fallen behind their counterparts in England over the past decade, according to a study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies measuring literacy and numeracy.

The 2014 referendum result saw 44.7 per cent of Scots back separation, with 55.3 per cent opposed, giving the No campaign a 10.6 point margin of victory.

Despite their defeat, successive SNP first ministers have repeatedly called for another referendum to be held in the past decade.

They have argued that Brexit happening against the will of the majority of Scots who voted Remain in the 2016 EU referendum justified another independence vote being staged.

But the SNP was routed in July’s general election after putting independence on “page one, line one” of its manifesto, raising hopes that voters are finally moving on from focusing on the constitution.

Mr Swinney insisted that the 2014 referendum had left “an overwhelmingly positive legacy” and Scotland was closer to independence than a decade ago.

On Wednesday, speaking to an audience of Yes campaigners in Edinburgh, the First Minister recalled his “heartbreak” at the referendum result when it quickly became apparent that the separatists had lost.

He paid tribute to the “gracious” response of “many leading figures in the No campaign”, saying that they had shown “understanding that lifelong independence campaigners like me were truly hurting at that moment”.

But Mr Swinney said nationalists had quickly “dusted themselves down” and carried on, despite the decisive margin of their defeat, and “that sense of empowerment resonates to this day”.

Citing Brexit and the pandemic, the First Minister said there had been a “long, dark decade” since the No vote but said we “cannot live in the past”.

He said: “For ten years – ten long years – Labour told us we don’t need independence. All we need to do is get rid of the Tories.

“Well, it’s taken Keir Starmer less than ten weeks to completely demolish that argument. Labour promised no more austerity – but instead they’re going to intensify it.”

He added: “The problem for Scotland is not just an incredibly damaging Westminster Tory Government. We now have an incredibly damaging Westminster Labour Government. There is a pattern here.”

Mr Swinney argued that support for independence “soared” during 2014 because Scots were discussing the country’s future.

Urging nationalists to lobby No voters to back separatism, he said: “Today, in 2024, we must reawaken that sense of hope, of optimism and of possibility that was so prevalent 10 years ago.

“It’s time for us to talk to each other again. And when I say each other – I mean everyone in Scotland.”

With polls showing the constitution is low in the list of voters’ priorities, he said nationalists’ “job is to make independence relevant to the everyday concerns of every citizen in Scotland”.

Mr Swinney said he was “committed to proving that independence is the solution to the immediate concerns of people in Scotland – on the NHS, schools, the cost of living, on energy prices”.

But Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, told BBC Scotland that the result of the referendum had not been respected by independence supporters and that “the bitterness and division” of the campaign had continued for a decade.

He said: “The last 10 years have seen the constitution dominate politics rather than the issues that really matter.”

Dame Jackie Baillie, the deputy leader of Scottish Labour, said people had moved on from the referendum and were more concerned with the NHS, the economy and education.

She added that the country’s constitutional future remained a “matter for the Scottish people” but said that the message had come “loud and clear” that Scots did not want another referendum any time soon.