Date set for millions of phones in UK to receive emergency alert test

Millions of phones will receive emergency alerts on 7 September in the second national test of the warning system.

Smartphones will vibrate and sound a 10-second siren at 3.00pm on the Sunday in a test of the alert, which is designed to warn of nearby threats such as extreme weather or terror activity.

Even phones on silent mode will light up during the alert, while a message will be displayed on the screen showing it is a test.

There are approximately 87 million mobile phones in the UK, according to officials.

The test will be the first since April 2023 and the government said it is part of plans to strengthen the country’s emergency preparedness. The Covid inquiry recommended that ministers test the Emergency Alert System in the wake of the pandemic.

Concerns have been raised in the past that emergency alerts can leave victims of domestic abuse at risk, by exposing those who have secret phones. But the government said it will run a public information campaign targeted at vulnerable groups to ensure they can turn the alert off on second phones.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden said: “Emergency alerts have the potential to save lives, allowing us to share essential information rapidly in emergency situations including extreme storms.

“Just like the fire alarm in your house, it’s important we test the system so that we know it will work if we need it.”

Since April 2023, the system has been used five times, including during major storms when lives were at risk.

Alerts flashed up on 4.5 million phones in Scotland and Northern Ireland during Storm Éowyn in January, and was seen by 3.5 million people in Wales and the South West of England received an alert during Storm Darragh last December.

It was also used when an unexploded bomb from the Second World War was discovered in Plymouth.

During the last test, a slew of mobile phone users, including those on the Three network, complained that they had not received the alert.

The British Red Cross welcomed the test but called for “tailored and targeted advice for people, especially those who may be more at-risk” of how to respond in the face of an emergency.

Chief executive Béatrice Butsana-Sita said: “The real test will be how this translates into tangible action, down to community and household level, so that we aren’t just warned but prepared and everyone is ready to respond in an emergency.”

And the Centre for Long-term Resilience said the UK’s national preparedness is “being tested to an unprecedented extent”, and welcomed the government’s recognition of that.

Users will have to acknowledge the alert, which will include telephone numbers or links to government websites with further information, before they can access any other features on their phones.

The alerts will not work if phones are switched off or in flight mode, or if people opt out of the scheme, and it is estimated that they will reach about 90 per cent of mobile phones in a given area, via 4G and 5G phone networks.

Previous alerts have read: “This is a test of emergency alerts, a new UK government service that will warn you if there’s a life-threatening emergency nearby.

Alert systems have been used successfully in a number of other countries, including the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Japan, during incidents such as severe weather events.

Separately, the government confirmed it is conducting a pandemic preparedness exercise dubbed Exercise Pegasus.

Jury shown footage of ‘brothers in Manchester airport brawl with police officers’

A jury has been shown new CCTV and bodycam footage of two brothers allegedly assaulting police officers in a fight at Manchester Airport last year.

Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, have been accused of attacking officers who were responding to an incident at a Starbucks in the airport’s Terminal 2 arrivals area on 23 July 2024.

CCTV footage shows Pc Zachary Marsden and Pc Ellie Cook, who were both armed, and unarmed Pc Lydia Ward approaching the brothers in the airport’s car park paystation after the incident.

The prosecution say Amaaz resisted as police tried to move him away from a payment machine to arrest him, and then his brother, Amaad, intervened.

They told the court on Monday that Amaaz threw 10 punches, including one to the face of Pc Ward that knocked her to the floor, and that Amaad aimed six punches at firearms officer Pc Marsden.

Amaaz is also said to have kicked Pc Marsden and twice struck firearms officer Pc Cook with his elbow, then punched Pc Marsden from behind and took hold of him before Pc Cook discharged her Taser device.

Amaaz is alleged to have assaulted the officers causing them actual bodily harm and is also accused of the earlier assault of a member of the public, Abdulkareem Ismaeil, at Starbucks.

Amaad, 26, is alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden, causing actual bodily harm.

Both men, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny the allegations.

Giving evidence in court, Pc Marsden said he approached the accused with the intention of escorting the suspect from the crowd and to arrest him outside where he would have radio signal.

He said he placed his hands on Amaaz’s left arm, but said he was “met with immediate resistance” and that he felt the suspect “clench his fists”.

Pc Marsden said he realised a change in plan was needed so decided to attempt to handcuff Amaaz, the man wearing the light blue tracksuit.

The officer said he then felt an “immense weight of pressure” to his right side and felt his Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol move across his leg and around his body, and feared someone was “trying to get his gun”.

He then described receiving “blows from all directions” from the second man, causing his glasses to be knocked off his face.

Pc Marsden said he managed to break free from Amaad and deploy his Taser against him before he felt a blow to the head from behind and someone on his back.

When he felt an arm “wrap round my throat” he told the court he believed there could be a third attacker.

He said, at the time, he had not realised his colleague Pc Cook had discharged her Taser at Amaaz as he held on to him. He recalled freeing himself before going down to arrest the man on the floor.

Prosecutor Paul Greaney KC asked the officer about suggestions that he stamped on Amaaz’s head. Pc Marsden denied this.

Pc Marsden told the court: “He (Amaaz) ignored my commands to put his arms around his back. His chest lifted off the floor and his head towards me.

“He was attempting to get off the floor. I needed to deliver one strike to the facial region to stun the subject.

“Using the soft-laced part of my boot I delivered a kick to the facial region, which would buy me valuable seconds in order to take control and hopefully dissuade the subject from trying to get up again.”

The trial continues on Tuesday when Pc Marsden will be cross-examined by the defence.

Hope fades for missing Camp Mystic victims as Texas death toll surpasses 100

The death toll from the catastrophic flooding in central Texas has surpassed 100, as hope of finding survivors continues to fade.

At least 84 of the victims were killed in Kerr County alone after the Guadalupe River burst from its banks on Friday, sweeping away homes, vehicles and devastating Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp situated on the banks of the river.

The camp said Monday that 27 girls and staff members had been killed in the disaster, with 11 still missing.

Hundreds of local and state responders and volunteers, supported by helicopters, drones and dive teams, weaved through downed trees and combed through piles of debris in search of survivors on Monday.

Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring Jr. warned locals to expect a “rough week” as the chances of finding survivors fell. Dozens of people remain missing.

The disaster dates back to the early hours of Friday, when heavy rainfall in western Kerr County caused the Guadalupe River to swell almost 24 feet in under an hour.

Labour donor ‘nervous’ about Starmer after winter fuel ‘fiasco’

The most high-profile billionaire Labour party donor has revealed he is “increasingly nervous” about the direction Keir Starmer’s government is taking.

John Caudwell – who switched allegiance from the Tories – also hit out at Labour’s winter fuel payments cut “fiasco” as well as the welfare rebellion, declaring that the party has done a bad job at telling the right story to the electorate.

The Phones 4u founder – who has a fortune of £1.58bn but has promised to give away more than 70 per cent of it – warned a wealth tax would be “very destructive” to growth, as he called on ministers to do more to bring investment into the UK.

The 72-year-old’s comments come as Sir Keir is reportedly facing another rebellion from his backbenchers over reforms to support for children with special needs in England, just days after he was forced into the humiliating climbdown on benefit cuts.

Mr Caudwell was previously a Tory backer for many years, donating £500,000 to the Conservatives ahead of the 2019 general election, making him one of the party’s biggest donors. But for last year’s election, he pledged to vote Labour for the time ever.

However, Mr Caudwell has now said he is in “despair of politicians”, The Guardian reported.

And despite being a prominent Brexit supporter, he said the urgent need to tackle the climate crisis is the reason he could never support Reform UK.

He also called on Labour to do more on net zero, describing schemes such as Great British Energy as “lacking in ambition”, although he welcomed green energy plans that the party has implemented.

He added that, despite his background in mobile phones, he fears social media and AI are a “disaster” for anxiety and said he is worried for a future in which AI fakes become the norm.

Speaking of Sir Keir’s party, the businessman said: “They’re just going to be tossed from pillar to post, that’s how it feels. I am becoming increasingly nervous about what Labour are doing and especially when they get into this mess over the welfare bill because it feels as though there’s anarchy within the party.”

However, he did say he welcomed some key changes from Labour, citing pension funds reform and planning changes.

Speaking during the launch of a report from his charity Caudwell Youth, he continued: “There seems to be a lack of that commercial intellect that we desperately need in government to make long-term right decisions…

“I despair of politicians in general. You’ve got to attract inward investment to create high-paid jobs and in technology, sciences and especially in the environment, since that’s going to be the absolute future of mankind.

“There’s so much we need to do and there’s so little we do, and that was the Conservative party before and now it’s the Labour party.”

However, he insisted he did not regret switching allegiance.

Mr Caudwell called on Sir Keir to be bolder in his second year leading the country. “I’d be a bit like a [version of] Trump who’s smart and who’s humanitarian,” he said. “And I’d force things through. You wouldn’t do any of the same things [as Trump], but it is what we need.”

However, he raised concerns that Nigel Farage would be “too much of a Trumpite” if he ever became prime minister. Mr Caudwell said: “That would not be healthy for Britain at all. But a lot of what he says makes a lot of sense to me. He’s able to talk very directly to people’s concerns.”

The six traits that make someone cool, according to science

Last week, I sang in a choir performing Eighties hits in a working man’s club, and I was taken back to a time when I felt cool. When I was a twentysomething fashion designer living in London, out every night at the latest clubs, wearing outfits I’d rustled up on the sewing machine that day, it felt like I was at the heart of the cultural zeitgeist, living the dream.

But here’s the thing, it was my dream, my culture and my version of cool. The choir I was singing with was at a working men’s club – the one where Kate Moss recently shot a video with Ray Winstone for the cooler than cool Perfect Magazine, and a week before that, where the Gallagher brothers reunited for their Adidas shoot.

The hardly touched seventies interior has appeared as a backdrop for a Gucci advert and the recent Amy Winehouse biopic. But it wasn’t any of this that made it cool for me. Having fun getting playing dress-up and not giving a s*** apart from the pure joy that our choir gave felt like the coolest thing. So, is cool about aesthetics or attitude? Or both? Is it even possible to measure what’s cool, as surely everyone’s idea of cool is personal to them? And in an era when algorithms filter what we see, hear, and buy – has cool lost its authenticity? Has it become less about self-expression and more about following fads?

I’m now a trend forecaster and I’m often asked, “What’s the latest colour? What’s trending? What’s cool right now?” My usual response is “Whatever you like – that’s what’s cool.” Honestly, I just don’t care.

A recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology surveyed nearly 6,000 participants from 12 countries around the world who rated cool people on a range of personality traits and values. The study found they had six things in common: extroverted, adventurous, open, autonomous, powerful and hedonistic came out on top.

Note it didn’t mention being on trend once.

We’ve been through quiet luxury, maximalism, nostalgia core, coastal cowgirl… you name it, we’ve seen them all and while they are fun ways to dress up and feel good, the concept of cool is much more than a TikTok trend. For me, cool is about being original, groundbreaking and independent – oh and funny. Funny is very cool, but more of that later.

The idea of “cool” originated in post‑war African American jazz culture and spread globally through beat poetry, music, movies, and global media to become what we now recognise as the ultimate aspiration – or absolute worst nightmare – depending on your perspective.

Fashion especially is suffering from this aesthetic burnout as the constant cycle of online micro-trends has made keeping up exhausting, with rules that shift weekly. A growing backlash against this force-feeding of information is seeing consumers crave surprise, authenticity and the power to reclaim their own organic decision-making.

In fact, many of the truly cool people are stepping away from fashion trends altogether. Forget “try-hard” looks or performative alternative styles – they’re embracing their inner basic-ness. Trying too hard to be cool is, ironically, not cool at all.

Social media accounts like the tongue-in-cheek @socks_house_meeting exemplify this shift. This satirical, anonymous voice comments on east London’s microcultures and cool tribes, with memes that parody the hyperlocal identities of Hackney, earning it a cult following of 144,000.

Likewise, @real_housewives_of_clapton takes a satirical swipe at east London hipster aesthetics – mocking natural wine obsessions, run club culture, Salomon trainers, and niche diets. And yet, this influencer who-isn’t-an-influencer has shaped local culture by promoting physical events, products, and charitable collaborations.

Cool in 2025 is about being self-aware and funny, particularly in the UK. You can like something uncool as long as it’s done with irony or layered meaning. While launching his new culture and entertainment platform, EE72, stylist Edward Enninful, often seen as a curator of cool, posted a list of 72 things he likes right now on Instagram – Love Island, Sade, bucket hats and Miley Cyrus all made it… Making something uncool – cool – using humour, authenticity and owning the narrative before the algorithm rhythm does is the ultimate flex.

There’s also a strange irony in the uncool becoming cool. Think of the much-maligned Marnie Michaels from Girls, now rebranded by Millennials as a relatable trailblazer for her emotional honesty and self-awareness. Or Paris Hilton, once the overexposed poster girl of 2000s bimbo culture, now reclaimed as a camp, ironically chic icon.

Nostalgia plays a big part in this, especially for Gen Z and Millennials, and TikTok is the home of nostalgic cool – but, again, with humour. Think: “Everyone’s chasing trends, but I’m over here eating Babybels in silence like it’s 2002.”

Whether it’s a desire to recapture simpler childhoods, contrasted with the uncertainties of adulthood and a longing for a sense of stability, nostalgia is fuelling the coolest cultural and fashion movements.

A recent psychology study concluded that cool is measurable and transcends cultures – even across diverse societies – and is a mix of being creative, self‑driven, bold and occasionally morally ambiguous. But I’m not sure I fully agree. Yes, being cool is about being an authentic, confident cultural trailblazer, but I also see it as a complex, shape-shifting social currency, part aspiration, part irony, part rebellion – that varies by tribe, location, and vibe.

My own relationship with cool has evolved over time (I’m now in my sixties). I have and always will be interested in current music, fashion and lifestyle trends, but I try to forge my own path. For me, being truly cool is (and always has been) about embracing individuality and being authentic. Whether you’re singing in a choir at the local working men’s club, starring in an indie film, or building a platform on social media, if you’re doing your own thing without giving a damn what others think, you’re officially cool. Oh and funny, you’ve got to be funny. Really funny.

Being Funny (see above)

Geeky kids: Being quirky, emotionally complex, genre-defying, techy and creative. Those who once felt out of place are now cultural leaders on TikTok and Substack and are where it’s at.

Middle-aged women: Yes you heard it here first, Gen X understand analogue and digital life, relate to older and younger generations, prioritise realness over perfection and know how to party. Kim Gordon, Alanis Morrisette and Chloë Sevigny are the poster girls.

Offline or anti-algorithm Curation: Those in search of authentic connection are turning to no online presence or smaller platforms like Letterboxd, Are.na, or niche Substacks to escape TikTok fatigue.

AI as a creative tool: Using AI tools for writing, design, and art is becoming mainstream – but cool creatives use them with signature handwriting to make them their own, rather than relying on default settings.

Hyper-local: Supporting local artists and microbrands, working in your community gardens or creating local events is way cooler than globalised luxury.

Anti-perfection: Enough with the quiet luxury style, breathwork apps, ice baths, psilocybin microdosing and sleep optimisation. It’s cool to be hedonistic and messy. Think Lola Young, Charli XCX and Gen X (see above).

And this year’s colour? Buttercup yellow if you really want to know.

You can find Jane Kellock’s work on her Substack here

When my friends were facing cancer, a community of people stepped up

When I was younger, I used to worry incessantly about my parents getting cancer. I’d lay awake at night, ruminating on what would happen to my brother and I if they did. Who would support us? Thankfully, both are still cancer-free, well into their seventies.

However, now that I’m a parent myself, I worry about my children. Many people believe that cancer only really happens to people in old age, but that’s just not true. One beloved friend’s daughter died of leukaemia in 2020, aged just five; an unthinkable horror that changed the lives of everyone who knew her and her family.

And with Macmillan Cancer Support reporting that almost 3.5 million people in the UK are living with cancer, I also worry about my friends – parents themselves, their lives touched by cancer. One friend sat me down in our favourite local café, our toddlers playing at our feet, to break the news that she was about to undergo a double mastectomy. We cried together.

Another friend, Sarah, a single parent to two teenage girls, was diagnosed with breast cancer the day before we heard that King Charles had cancer, and a month before the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, announced her own diagnosis in March last year. It seemed like cancer was everywhere.

As a result, Sarah put 2024 on hold – she missed her daughter’s last sports day and last concert at primary school and had to find a whole new way of co-ordinating family life.

“I’m lucky in some ways that my children are teenagers, so they are able to look after themselves to some degree – but I’m also a single parent, so there are some things that they can’t do, or struggle with, due to their age,” she tells me.

“I have even set up multiple alarms on our Alexa reminding them to put their packed lunches in their bags or leave for school, just in case I can’t get up.”

Sarah says she thought she knew quite a lot about cancer prior to her diagnosis, but now admits she “really didn’t”. She explains: “There are so many terms and procedures to understand – stages and grades, not to mention over 100 different chemotherapy drugs.”

Sarah tells me about the exhausting cumulative effect of chemotherapy, which she endured every three weeks during her cancer treatment: “After the very first lot, I slept for a few hours and felt much better pretty quickly. For my last rounds, I slept for 48 hours solid and even days later, I needed to have a nap in the middle of the day and was in bed by 8pm.”

Sarah’s now finished chemotherapy and, a year on from her diagnosis, is turning 50. She’s throwing a huge party to celebrate not only the birthday milestone, but getting over this “annus horriblis” – a year she couldn’t have gotten through without the people around her.

“People can do so much for us when we are unwell – and I am forever grateful,” she says. “I’ve been really overwhelmed by the support that my friends have given me; from ferrying around my children to and from after-school events and sleepovers when things get bad, to my 75-year-old neighbour mowing the lawn. One friend popped round with a huge pot of pasta sauce and I even had a gift box from a recruiter at work.”

What talking to my strong, resilient friends about their cancer journeys has made me realise most, is the power of community: for when we receive the worst news imaginable, what we need is people around us to see us through. A community of other women: friends, school mums, neighbours.

They had people willing to make them food, pick up their children, go shopping for them or to just sit with them and listen. They had support when they decided to raise money for cancer support charities, when they did fundraisers such as hosting a Macmillan Coffee Morning.

It takes a village to raise a child – and that village will be with you every step of the way when you need them most.

Find out how you can help raise vital funds by hosting a Macmillan Coffee Morning. Sign up now on the Macmillan website

Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity in England and Wales (261017), Scotland (SC039907) and the Isle of Man (604). Also operating in Northern Ireland.

‘Full of rats’: Children facing almost-Dickensian levels of poverty

The Children’s Commissioner has warned some young people in England are living in an “almost-Dickensian level of poverty” as a new report reveals the “real hardship” facing some families.

Black mould in a bedroom and rats in a kitchen were among some of the examples given by young people for the commissioner’s review, as the government prepares to publish a child poverty strategy in autumn.

The latest official estimates, for the year to March 2024, suggest there were a record 4.45 million children living in poverty in the UK.

While some feel a sense of shame over their situation, Dame Rachel de Souza said it is “society at large and decision-makers that should be ashamed of the fact that children don’t have enough money”.

A multitude of campaign groups have said the government’s new strategy must contain a commitment to do away with the two-child benefit limit.

The limit, which came into effect under the Conservatives in April 2017, restricts child tax credit and universal credit (UC) to the first two children in most households.

Organisations working in the sector argue that 109 children across the UK are pulled into poverty by the policy every day and that an estimated 350,000 children would be lifted out of poverty immediately if it was scrapped.

But comments by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson at the weekend have raised concerns the policy might not be done away with, amid financial pressures following the U-turn on welfare reforms.

Ms Phillipson said spending decisions have been made “harder” after the watering down of the welfare reforms.

Pressed on whether the chances of the benefit cap going are now slimmer, Ms Phillipson told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “The decisions that have been taken in the last week do make decisions, future decisions harder.

“But all of that said, we will look at this collectively in terms of all of the ways that we can lift children out of poverty.”

Estimates for the cost of scrapping the policy vary, from around £2.6 billion to £3.5 billion by the end of this Parliament (2029/30).

Dame Rachel – whose office was commissioned to carry out its report to feed into the Government’s work in the area – said while there is “no quick fix to ending child poverty”, she feels it is “very clear that any child poverty strategy must be built on the foundation of scrapping the two-child limit”.

She added that a new approach is needed which “stops sidelining children’s voices”, saying that “only by listening to children, and acting in response, will we get close to solving those problems”.

The commissioner said in recent years she has seen a change in children’s comments, noting that issues traditionally seen as “adult” concerns “are now keenly felt by children, who see their parents’ worries and the struggles they face: the hours they work, the homes they live in and the ability to put food on the table”.

She added: “Children shared harrowing accounts of hardship, with some in almost-Dickensian levels of poverty.

“They don’t talk about ‘poverty’ as an abstract concept but about not having the things that most people would consider basic: a safe home that isn’t mouldy or full of rats, with a bed big enough to stretch out in, ‘luxury’ food like bacon, a place to do homework, heating, privacy in the bathroom and being able to wash, having their friends over, and not having to travel hours to school.”

While commending “some positive steps by the Government to get more money into families’ pockets”, she urged “bold, practical measures that break the link between a child’s background and their opportunities”.

The commissioner’s report, based on the experiences of 128 children across the country between January and March this year, noted a range of concerns including lack of access to quality, healthy food and living in cramped and poor conditions.

As well as calling for the two-child benefit limit to be scrapped, Dame Rachel urged a commitment to a so-called “triple-lock” for uprating all child-related benefits, reforms to ensure families are not being housed in temporary bed and breakfast accommodation for longer than the legal six-week limit, free bus travel for all school-aged children in England and better safety measures in areas with children in low-income families including increased street lighting, and more neighbourhood watch-style initiatives.

A government spokesperson said: “We are determined to bring down child poverty. We’ve just announced a new £1 billion package to reform crisis support, including funding to ensure the poorest children do not go hungry outside of term time.

“This comes alongside the expansion to free breakfast clubs, investing £39 billion in social and affordable housing, increasing the national minimum wage and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.

“As part of our plan for change, the Child Poverty Taskforce will publish an ambitious strategy later this year to ensure we deliver fully-funded measures that tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty across the country.”

Hosepipe ban announced for parts of UK as drought takes hold

A hosepipe ban has been announced in Yorkshire after the region saw one of its driest springs on record.

Yorkshire Water said on Tuesday a temporary use ban (TUB) will come into effect from Friday July 11, restricting the use of hosepipes to water gardens and wash private vehicles, fill domestic pools or clean outdoor surfaces until there has been “significant rainfall” in the area.

The organisation said the region has experienced both the driest and warmest spring on record this year, receiving just 15cm of rainfall between February and June, less than half what is expected in an average year.

There has also been a higher water demand, leaving the region’s reservoirs at 55.8% full, which is 26.1% lower than they would normally be at this time of year.

Yorkshire Water’s director of water, Dave Kaye, said: “We need to take action now to help conserve water and protect Yorkshire’s environment.

“That means from Friday this week, people across Yorkshire will need to stop using their hosepipes to water their gardens, wash their cars or for any other activities.

“Introducing these restrictions is not a decision we have taken lightly, and we’ve been doing everything we can to avoid having to put them in place.”

Yorkshire residents will still be able to wash their car and water their gardens using tap water from a bucket or watering can, while businesses will be allowed to use a hosepipe if it is directly related to a commercial purpose.

In a statement, Yorkshire Water said: “This will help our region’s reservoir levels recover and protect Yorkshire’s water resources throughout the summer months, following one of the driest springs on record and the region being in drought.

“We’ve tried everything possible to avoid these restrictions, and despite our customers’ help to save water where they can and our efforts to manage water resources, including adding an extra 100 people to our leakage team and upgrading our infrastructure to reduce leaks and bursts, the dry weather and warmer-than-usual temperatures have increased demand.”

The Environment Agency declared a drought in Yorkshire on June 12, following the driest spring for 132 years. The agency had previously declared drought status in the northwest of England in May.

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