After Brutal Losses In Council And Mayoral Elections, Rishi Sunak Admits Tories May Not Win General Election

Following the party’s crushing defeat in council and mayoral elections, Rishi Sunak has conceded that the Tories may not win the general election.

The Prime Minister claimed Britain is heading for a hung parliament when he sends the country to the polls, as he warned about the ‘disaster’ of a Labour-led coalition.

A new chapter in the Tory civil war has begun after a disastrous round of local elections saw the Conservatives lose over 500 seats and all but one elected mayor.

Additionally, Mr Sunak witnessed the Tories fall to Labour in the Blackpool South parliamentary by-election, with his party only just defeating Reform UK, which came in third.

The PM conceded it had been ‘bitterly disappointing’ for his party but seized on an analysis of council results that suggested Labour would miss out on a House of Commons majority.

‘These results suggest we are heading for a hung parliament with Labour as the largest party,’ he told The Times.

‘Keir Starmer propped up in Downing Street by the SNP, Liberal Democrats and the Greens would be a disaster for Britain.

‘The country doesn’t need more political horse-trading, but action. We are the only party that has a plan to deliver on the priorities of the people.’

Professor Michael Thrasher, a leading elections expert, said analysis of the results of Thursday’s council contest showed Labour as the largest party in Westminster but short of an overall majority.

These vote results were projected into a national estimate for Sky News based on an analysis of two million local wards, and Labour led the Tories by nine percentage points.

The analysis suggested Labour would be left 32 seats short of a majority at a general election.

But the study raised eyebrows as it flew in the face of the massive lead Labour has in almost all Westminster voting intention polls.

It was pointed out that people often vote differently in local and national elections, and there were no council contests in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland on Thursday.

The PM’s assertion that a hung Parliament is likely in Britain was reiterated by Health Minister Maria Caulfield.

She also claimed Tory voters who stayed at home for last week’s local elections would back the government at the general election. 

‘It’s always difficult when you’ve been in government, and voters can send a message to a party in government that they’re unhappy about certain things with the safe knowledge that they still have a Conservative government in control,’ she told Sky News.

‘It’s very different come a general election, where they really do have to make a choice.

‘If you look at Blackpool South, for example, the vast majority of our voters that voted for us in 2019 stayed at home, they didn’t switch to Labour.

‘They didn’t switch to Reform. They stayed at home and that shows that they haven’t really been tempted by other parties.’

Labour sought to dispel suggestions it would consider a coalition with the SNP after the general election.

They’ve had thirteen years and a large majority to implement the Tory plan, but instead, they’ve wasted both time and taxpayers’ money.

The national debt in the UK is now forecast to rise to almost £2.8 trillion next year. The UK national debt grows at a rate of £5,170 million per second, and the Tories claim to be the party of economic responsibility!

I mention this to the younger generation and they have no idea what I’m talking about. It’s like their brains turn to mush and they look like they’re having a meltdown. The reason why, is because our government want our children to be mathematically illiterate, and they have taken a generation of children and made them into zombies, who have no idea what’s going on in the country, let alone the world! 

An Angry Road Rage Driver, 60, Who Screamed Foul-Mouth Abuse At A Terrified Female Motorist

A convicted road rage driver who was filmed screaming abuse at a woman motorist after she sounded her horn at him for cutting her up has been warned he faces jail.

Peter Abbott got out of his car and approached the frightened Samantha Isaacs’ vehicle following the minor incident outside a Tesco petrol station.

A terrified Mrs Isaacs, who runs a TV production company and has worked with Prince William and Alan Titchmarsh, locked her doors and began filming irate Abbott.

The 60-year-old banged on her windscreen with his fists before unleashing the foul-mouthed tirade.

He shouted at her, ‘Can you f***ing see me, you f***ing tart?’ He then called her a ‘s**g’ and a ‘wh***’ and put his head up against the windscreen.

A male motorist went to intervene and called Abbott a bully. The Good Samaritan told him, ‘What is wrong with you, it’s a woman on her own’ to which Abbott replied, ‘She’s a f***ing bloody annoying woman’.

At the Poole Magistrates’ Court in Dorset, where Abbott was on trial for using threatening words or actions to incite fear of violence, anxiety, or alarm, the video was played.

He denied the offence, saying ‘it’s not against the law to be angry’ but was found guilty of the offence.

Sentencing was adjourned for reports but a district judge warned Abbott that he may go to jail as it was the ‘most serious’ of this type of offence.

Afterwards, Mrs Isaacs, who is aged in her late 50s, said: ‘He’s a horrible man and a bully. I didn’t want it to go this far, I just don’t want him to do it to anyone else.’

The road rage incident happened on August 25 last year when Mrs Isaacs was leaving the petrol station at Tesco Extra in Bournemouth, Dorset, just before lunchtime.

Abbott, who had been shopping in the main store, pulled out in front of her, causing her to slam on her brakes.

The mother of three honked her horn, prompting Abbott to make rude gestures at her before stopping his Toyota car and getting out.

Mrs Isaacs told the court: ‘I had just pulled out and a car came out of the shopping area and completely cut me up to the point where I had to slam on my brakes so hard all my belongings came off the passenger seat onto the floor.

‘I beeped my horn as if to say “look out” type of thing. He turned around in the car and started gesticulating, then he got out of the car and started shouting at me.

‘He said what did I think I was doing and started hitting my car and calling me a lot of names like f***ing s**g and wh***.

‘He was banging with both his fists on the windscreen and my door. I was frightened so I started videoing it.

‘I wanted to show him I was recording everything to make him stop. I had locked my doors; I wasn’t getting out of my car.

‘I didn’t think he was going to kill me or anything but this was escalating and I wanted to have it on camera. I felt unsafe.

‘I would have thought after it being such a long time ago I would be okay, but it’s still not very nice to watch [the video].

‘He drove out into the road and stopped the car again. When we turned left at the traffic lights, he stopped the car again. I overtook him and then realised how stupid it was because I realised that meant he was following me. That’s when I phoned the police.’

District judge Orla Austin asked Mrs Isaacs what the long-term impact had been. She said: ‘Whenever I am in the car on my own I always keep the doors locked, I have made sure my dashcam works.

‘I work in television, predominantly in London, and my daughter has had to take on more of my work because I don’t want to drive.

‘Everyone seems to be so aggressive on the roads these days, I don’t want to be put in this position again.’

The court heard that Abbott was questioned by police in October after being recognised as the registered owner of the Toyota implicated in the outburst.

This man has shown no remorse, and still believes that his behaviour was justified; he deserves a jail sentence, even if it is for a short time, but he probably won’t get jailed for his offence, he will either get a suspended sentence or community service.

This man is just a bully, and while being angry isn’t unlawful, using anger to vent on a middle-aged woman is unlawful. He deserves everything he gets, including the notoriety that will follow him for the rest of his life.

This guy obviously likes to target female drivers because he probably wouldn’t confront a male driver in the same way, and he needs to be punished appropriately, not just to be sat on the naughty step, sucking his thumb because he’s an arrogant bully with a bad attitude.

God knows what he would have done if the woman hadn’t locked herself in her car; therefore, we should never minimise what he did!

Unknown Musician Saves The Day For Take That: Guitarist Rushes From Hotel Bar To Stand In For Olly Murs At Glasgow Gig With Just 30 Minutes’ Notice To Stun 14,000 Fans With An Amazing Set

An aspiring musician playing in a hotel bar has been cast into the limelight after he was asked to stand in for Olly Murs and perform in front of a 14,000-strong crowd opening for Take That.

Singer and guitarist Daniel Rooney found himself supporting the boy band, with frontman Gary Barlow later saying the lad had ‘saved the day’.

After Olly Murs, 39, who was supposed to open for Take That at the Hydro in Glasgow, was forced to cancel, the unidentified Scottish artist was given the job.

Mr Rooney was playing in a bar in the city when he was spotted by celebrity correspondent and TV presenter Ross King.

Mr Rooney, a Cambuslang resident, left King feeling so good that he suggested Take That hire him as a last-minute substitute, allowing the young vocalist thirty minutes to get to the Hydro.

And the gamble appeared to pay off, with the crowd at the sell-out gig giving the newcomer a raucous welcome.

As he sang renditions of beloved songs, such as Paolo Nutini’s 2009 song Candy and Stealers Wheel’s classic song from the 1970s, the audience enthusiastically joined in.

Gary Barlow thanked the artist, whose career is sure to blow up overnight, on Instagram, saying: ‘This young man saved the day. Thank you, @danielrooney_music.’

Murs had to wait eight and a half hours at Heathrow Airport before his BA flight was cancelled, so Danny had to step in. The 39-year-old claimed he had never missed a performance in his life, particularly when it was backing a worldwide ensemble.

New fans of Daniel’s also took to social media to heap praise on the newcomer, saying he ‘saved the day’ for everyone attending the concert.

One said: ‘Huge congrats to Daniel Rooney of Cambuslang. Filling in on 30 minutes notice for Olly Murs, who was stuck in London. What a fab intro to the big stage.’

Another fan wrote: ‘Daniel Rooney from Cambuslang smashed it in your absence! Loved his performance’.

Meanwhile, one fan told the Daily Record: ‘Daniel was great, I preferred him to Olly; I hope he makes it big.’ 

‘Daniel Rooney smashed it,’ Lorraine Cant wrote on X/Twitter. ‘He’s no Olly Murs, but gave an incredible performance with 30 minutes notice!’

A gobsmacked Daniel said after his Hydro performance, ‘It’s hard to take it in, it’s really surreal’.

Danny is quite optimistic that the chance will help him establish a stage on which to perform his own songs as a solo artist.

You would have thought that Olly Murs would have flown up the night before, considering this was a very big gig. It was not such a good idea to leave it till the last minute, and by the time he realised his flight was going to be cancelled, he couldn’t even drive up in time.

I’m not sure why you would leave something this important in the hands of British Airways, who are famed for cancelling their flights. They’re no longer an airline, which represents quality. Anyway, it gave this young lad some exposure, and what an experience for him.

Or perhaps this was just a stunt to showcase a new artist—Olly would do something like that, and this is a nice story for a change, rather than all the awful news we get these days.

This lad was really good, and it looked like everybody loved him. What a baptism of fire, from playing in a bar to a full house of people. Hats off to him. It couldn’t have been easy at such short notice.

Schools Are In A ‘Full-Blown Crisis’ As 99 Per Cent Of Headteachers Complain That Money For Special Needs Children Is Inadequate

Pupils with special educational needs are facing a ‘full-blown crisis’ due to funding cuts, headteachers have warned. 

In a survey of 1,000 school leaders, 99 percent said the funding they receive for such children is inadequate.

Many have been compelled to cut back on the number of teaching assistants or the number of hours they work, according to research by the education union NAHT.

This is despite TAs being vital for the care of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Nearly four in five—78 percent—said they needed to reduce spending on TAs in the last three years due to funding pressures.

Meanwhile, 84 percent anticipated they would be forced to do so in the next three years.

Certain school administrators expressed concerns to the union about their inability to maintain staff and student safety due to insufficient financing.

The union was also informed by school administrators of the extra strain schools face when trying to cover the gaps left by underfunded services, such as social and health care.

Ian Kendal, executive headteacher at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Multi Academy Trust in Essex, said the funding received for pupils with SEND is ‘not enough’.

He said, ‘There just isn’t capacity within special schools in our area, meaning we are supporting even more pupils with complex needs within our mainstream settings.

‘We believe in inclusion and are currently doing our best with the limited funds, but, put simply, it is not good enough for the children with the most complex needs—they deserve so much more than we can give them.’

On day two of the annual meeting of the NAHT in Newport, Wales, the findings were released.

General Secretary Paul Whiteman said all political parties should pledge the ‘system-wide investment’ needed to tackle the crisis head-on.

He added: ‘Schools face a perfect storm of growing demand to support more pupils with special educational needs at the same time as costs have increased massively and are still rising.

‘This is a full-blown crisis and bad news for children, families, schools and local authorities.’

A Department for Education spokesman said: ‘We are helping to ensure that all children have the chance to reach their potential by increasing funding for children and young people with complex needs to over £10.5 billion next year—up 60 per cent in the last five years.

‘We are also providing £2.6 billion to support the creation of places for children and young people with SEND, more than tripling the previous level of investment, so parents can be reassured that their child will receive the right support at the right time, close to home.

‘Combined with the special and AP (Alternative Provision) free schools’ programme, this is helping to increase capacity, creating over 60,000 specialist places across the country.’

The mistaken choice to eliminate special needs schools and transfer children with various issues to a “normal” school system, which could never provide the kind of services that a special needs school could, was the primary reason behind the reduction in the quality of education.

All students’ standards in the classroom have been decreased by integration.

There are around 30% SEND pupils in each class, and it might be challenging to satisfy the requirements of two to three of them. As a result, they fall behind because they are unable to access the information, which creates problems.

However, what’s more worrying is the lack of people referral units, so we have nowhere to send students who we should expel because they’re all being shut down, so you have 20–30 children on site who shouldn’t be there and their behaviour takes up 30 percent of everyone’s time. These issues mean that you can’t do much to help the remaining students. The system is broken.

However, bad behaviour isn’t always bad behaviour and is just a by-product of bad parenting or disability. Does this mean that we should just throw all these children onto the heap because there are not enough funds to help them? No, it does not!

The UK is supposed to be a civilised country, but apparently, we are far from it!

A Shameless Taxi Driver Boasted Of Getting Pulled Over For Speeding Before Mowing Down And Killing A Pedestrian 16 Minutes After Being Released By Police

A speeding taxi driver who killed a pedestrian just 16 minutes after being let off with a warning by police over his driving was jailed for almost seven years yesterday.

Shakoor Ahmed, 46, was told by a judge he had behaved with ‘gross arrogance’ on the roads on the night he crashed into 32-year-old landscape gardener Dan Beames.

Ahmed was pulled over by two policemen moments earlier while driving with a passenger, and they issued him a formal warning for speeding.

The officers had charitably decided not to charge him with the offence because of the impact a conviction might have on his sixteen-year taxi driving career.

In bodycam footage released after the sentencing, an officer let Ahmed off with a warning, after telling him: ‘Just don’t do it again. I don’t want you or anyone else to get hit or hurt.

‘I’ve seen far too many nasty accidents in my time, and that (his driving) was silly.’

But Gloucester Crown Court heard that Ahmed did not heed the warning—in fact, he boasted about it to his next two passengers when he picked them up at Gloucester Bus station and drove them to Cheltenham in his Toyota Prius taxi.

He struck Mr Beames, who was crossing the street with a freshly bought box of beer under his arm to drink with friends while driving at 100 mph along a bypass that connected the two places. The court heard that he was still travelling 53 mph on a 40 mph route in the town.

Ahmed could not avoid him and the pedestrian suffered catastrophic brain injuries.

Mr Beames’ mother, Yvette White and his partner Jessica Beames, a paramedic who has since changed her surname to his, both read emotional statements to the judge describing the devastation his loss had caused to them and the rest of his family.

Mrs White, a financial administrator, said the death of the youngest of her three children was the second tragedy to hit her because she had lost a daughter in 2020 – and she herself had then been diagnosed with cancer.

She said she has been on anxiety medications since the tragedy, she does not sleep properly any more, and she keeps thinking of her last image of him in hospital with his life ebbing away.

The perpetrator who caused this awful crash should surely receive a much longer sentence, bearing in mind, the fact that he had only just been ordered by the police to slow down and drive correctly.

This criminal should never be trusted to operate a vehicle again, and he should never be permitted to work as a cab driver again due to his willful disobedience of the law.

This man did not receive a meaningful sentence and the victim and family will never get proper justice. He took a life, and he should have been punished accordingly.

When will taking a life get appropriate punishment? What an insult to the grieving family—six years, and he’ll be out in three. This man should have got a minimum of ten years because this was a tragic loss of life. After all, the taxi driver thought he was a boy racer.

This was a very lenient sentence by the judge, especially for taking a life. Is that all someone’s life is worth now?

Anyone who operates a motor vehicle, especially professionally, ought to conduct themselves with the utmost integrity.

Analysts Warn That Coutts’ Plans To Move £2 Billion From UK Funds Into Overseas Investments Are Part Of A ‘Vicious Circle’ Causing London-Listed Firms To Lose Value

Royal bank Coutts has been accused of ‘abandoning’ Britain as it plans to shift billions of pounds of clients’ cash out of the UK.

In a blow to the City, the 332-year-old lender, where King Charles is a client, will transfer £2 billion from British funds into overseas investments.

Analysts said Coutts’ decision to join a ‘foreign exodus’ is part of a ‘vicious circle’ causing London-listed firms to lose value, making them vulnerable to takeovers.

City insiders blasted the timing as ‘ironic’ as the Government will encourage people to invest in British stocks when it sells its stake in Coutts’ owner NatWest this summer.

This is the most recent scandal to rock Coutts, which was rocked last year by a dispute over the cancellation of Nigel Farage’s account, partly because of the former leader of UKIP’s political beliefs.

Founded in London in 1692, Coutts is the eighth-oldest bank in the world. It is an exclusive private lender.

The wealthiest people in the UK, including members of the Royal Family and celebrities, entrust their fortunes to it.

Experts today slammed its decision to snub Britain’s listed companies amid concerns over the future of London’s stock market.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said ‘abandoning the UK stock market’ is a ‘highly questionable decision.’

She said: ‘The time is ripe to back British-listed businesses rather than join a foreign exodus, given the value which has the potential to be unlocked.’

Firms are increasingly choosing New York over London because British equities are perceived as cheap when compared to their American counterparts.

Betting giant Flutter, the FTSE 100 owner of Paddy Power, this week became the latest to vote to quit the City in favour of Wall Street.

In search of a deal, overseas purchasers are also eyeing London’s blue-chip businesses.

In recent weeks, footsie companies Anglo-American and Royal Mail have emerged as acquisition prospects.

According to data from Calastone, outflows from UK equity funds hit £8 billion in 2023—making the £2 billion planned withdrawal by Coutts a huge increase in the short term.

‘This will inevitably put further selling pressure on the UK market at a time when valuations are already depressed,’ Charles Hall, head of research at investment bank Peel Hunt, said.

The changeover is scheduled to be finished in July, and Coutts will begin making the necessary adjustments to its investment funds at the end of the following month.

Instead of choosing to make Britain the global hub for investments, they decided to increase taxes.

We’ve become an anti-business economy that over-taxes small and medium-sized businesses and doesn’t encourage people to be entrepreneurial, and it’s made how they treat small businesses in this country—there’s zero incentive to run one anymore.

As bloodsucking vultures, the Chancellor and the HMRC just care about snatching up as much money as they can without considering long-term consequences.

The country’s problems are not well represented by things like sewage levels, food banks, treatment wait times, and public funds going into the pockets of the ultra-wealthy, but it’s all deliberate to bring Great Britain to its knees.

Perhaps our government should try being a bit more likeable because being a Pariah is not going well, but it’s all self-inflicted because our current government take orders from big donors and political globalists with payment in kind.

Britain is a bad place to invest now because taxes are much too high.

In A Shocking Turn Of Events, Boeing Whistleblower Joshua Dean Died Unexpectedly, Almost Two Months After The Airline’s Former Quality Control Manager, John Barnett, Ended His Own Life

A Boeing whistleblower who raised the alarm about defects in 737 Max jets has died suddenly at the age of 45. 

Joshua Dean previously said he was fired from his job as a quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems for questioning standards at the supplier’s plant in Wichita, Kansas, in October 2022.

The Boeing jet’s door plug, which unexpectedly blew out midair during an Alaska Airlines trip in January, was made by Spirit.

Dean’s family posted on social media that he passed away in the hospital on Tuesday following an unexpected illness. April 2023 saw his termination from Spirit AeroSystems.

Earlier this year, Dean spoke with NPR about being fired. ‘I think they were sending out a message to anybody else. If you are too loud, we will silence you,’ he said. 

Over the last six months, Boeing’s share price has dropped by nearly 10% to $173.86 as further safety concerns have surfaced.

Dean’s aunt, Carol Parsons, confirmed his death in a series of Facebook posts, as did other family members in messages seen by MailOnline. 

She also gave the Seattle Times a statement confirming his passing.

Parsons informed the newspaper that Dean had respiratory problems and had visited a hospital in his hometown of Wichita, Kansas.

Dean needed to be intubated after contracting MRSA and pneumonia during his hospitalisation.

‘I am grateful for the prayers of my family and friends for this young man,’ she wrote on Facebook. 

‘He passed away yesterday morning, and his absence will be deeply felt. We will always love you, Josh.’

His former employer, Spirit AeroSystems, shared a statement expressing condolences to Dean’s family. 

‘Our thoughts are with Josh Dean’s family, spokesperson Joe Buccino said. ‘This sudden loss is stunning news here and for his loved ones.’

Boeing has consistently refuted allegations made by whistleblowers like Dean that the business purposefully disregarded safety alerts.

According to a Facebook post made by his mother, Dean was cognizant and interacting with medical professionals as recently as Monday.

‘At the time, a doctor told him that he had a ’50/50 chance of living,’ she wrote. 

‘Josh is very depressed, frightened, and doing a lot of sleeping and not responding as much as he was a few days ago, and has not been on any sedation or pain meds.’

Dean was breathing with an ECMO machine in his last days.

People have been advised for a long time to speak out and inform senior management if anything doesn’t seem right or feels right at work, and they shouldn’t be scared to express their worries and anxieties.

That appears to be no longer the case for Boeing or any of its vendors.

Running a group of companies where people are too scared to speak out when something is wrong is criminal. People need to be able to speak out safely and without persecution, otherwise, mistakes will be made and continue to be made and that will cost lives. But this is because we worship money and material stuff, and then people are willing to compromise everything for a buck.

However, persecution is the wrong word; execution is what happened. Boeing is a huge industry with many government ties, and it would be very difficult for anyone of integrity to take their concerns to the government without Boeing getting word of it.

Nothing seems off about this, does it? Whistleblowers who are in perfect health frequently pass away unexpectedly, don’t they?

Before Watching The Clippers And Mavericks In The NBA Playoffs, Floyd Mayweather Gives $30,000 To Homeless Men

Floyd Mayweather has reportedly gifted $30,000 to a group of homeless men before being spotted courtside at a Clippers playoff game against the Dallas Mavericks in L.A. amid rumours that he’s ‘stuck in Dubai’ due to a lack of paying back his debts.

According to TMZ Sports, the 47-year-old retired boxing champion ran into many individuals on the street on Wednesday as he was walking from the downtown L.A. Ritz-Carlton Hotel to Cypto.com Arena for game 5.

That’s when Mayweather began interacting with the guys as he wanted to help them out, so he took out his backpack and ‘blessed each guy with 10 racks.’ 

‘I don’t want to show my face, but [Floyd] just gave us $30,000,’ Reynolds—one of the homeless men—said after his share of the five-figure sum.

According to TMZ, the guys didn’t want their snaps to go public, as they feared they’d become targets of local crime for carrying the cash. 

‘We do not want to get robbed. We will go find a motel,’ one of the men said. 

According to figures from the U.S. government, there are over 180,000 homeless persons in California as of 2023, making the state the home of the nation’s biggest homeless population.

There are about 650,000 homeless persons in the United States of America as a whole.

Mayweather, who saw Luca Doncic drop a double-double (35 points and 10 assists) against the Clips in the Mavs’ 123-93 blowout win to take Dallas up 3-2 in the series on Wed. night, has been rumoured to being ‘stranded’ in Dubai due to some alleged debts. 

That’s according to Gervonta Davis, a former student of Mayweather’s who appears to be fighting with the 15-time world champion boxer once more. In the previous year, Davis claimed that Mayweather had barred him from using his gym and stopped him from preparing for his matchup with Ryan Garcia.

Davis posted a video of Mayweather on social media last week, which he claims was a jab at him.

In the clip, Mayweather said: ‘A lot of times what these fighters are looking at—they’re looking Floyd with the cars, they’re looking at Floyd being flashy. Man listen, I made so many sacrifices. Y’all are looking at the end results. And [when I was] champion having hundreds of millions in the bank, I still was on my grind in that gym.

Following the Clippers vs. Mavs game on Wednesday, Mayweather posted several photos to his Instagram Story on Thursday, showing himself and his surroundings back in Dubai. It’s unknown exactly where he is.

What does he think a homeless person would do if you gave him that kind of money? Would he find a place to live, buy some new clothes, scrub up and go look for a job and sort their life out, or get off their head with drugs and booze every day until it’s all been frittered away?

It won’t solve homelessness for any of them, but I do hope that it changes at least one of their lives, and it just doesn’t dissolve into more crack.

Mayweather does this and it’s all over social media. However, a guy like Keanu Reeves does stuff like this and you never hear of it, no publicity, I know who I would respect more.

It would have been better to donate to the local ‘Soup Kitchen’ to help the homeless or even use the money to build a proper shelter with people there to help them reinvent into society.

A Seaside Town’s Cash-Strapped Council Spends £5.3 Million Upgrading Cycle Lanes On One Of The ‘Widest And Safest’ Roads

Residents of a seaside town have vented their fury over their hard-up council’s decision to spend £5.3 million of taxpayer cash upgrading cycle lanes on a road described as one of the ‘widest and safest’ in the area.

In Bournemouth, Dorset, Glenferness Avenue already has bike lanes installed on both sides.

However, resurfacing, expanding, and adding a step to serve as a barrier between cyclists and vehicles are now costing millions of pounds.

The cycle lane splurge comes after two new bridges solely for pedestrians and cyclists were installed further along the leafy avenue.

Drivers and locals have criticised the improvements as a waste of money, pointing out that the local council is already £251 million in debt.

Some people suggested that the money would be better used to patch potholes and make the roads safer for cars.

John James said, ‘Glenferness is one of the widest, safest roads in Bournemouth. It has an existing bike lane, which is hardly used. 

‘It seems this is just a rush to spend government money without proper thought or consultation.

Lorraine Mirams said: ‘The money would be better spent on repairing potholes and improving the roads in general for motorists.’

Ian Large said: ‘Glenferness Road already had two substantial cycle lanes, one on each side. This is definitely a waste of money.’

An unnamed resident of Glenferness Avenue claimed hardly any cyclists use the road.

He said: ‘It’s a complete waste of money and it’s been hugely disruptive to us.

‘The road is wide enough anyway and we don’t really see cyclists going up and down here. And there are existing cycle lanes already.

‘They have only spent the money because they have got a grant. The whole road needs resurfacing, but they are not going to do that—it’s ridiculous.’

Another local said: ‘We only have three or four cyclists a day going down this road; it’s a complete waste of money. The problem is the government has given them the money so it’s earmarked.

‘The cycle lanes are going to be two metres wide on each side, so there is now only just enough room for two cars to pass. When the dustbin men or delivery drivers come round and need to stop, it just brings everything to a stop.’

Another homeowner said: ‘The bridge work had to be done because it wasn’t very safe, that’s fair enough but the lanes didn’t need improving.

The government’s contentious Transforming Cities Fund is providing funding for the project, which will also see the installation of more crossings.

This isn’t the only council wasting money on road works that aren’t necessary; there’s a concerted effort to add humps, traffic islands and one-way systems to prevent cars and buses from travelling while potholes are left getting bigger. If car owners and bus companies claim against councils because of pothole damage, they’ll be mended in no time at all.

The percentage of bike trips hasn’t improved at all despite all this spending, but bikers still insist on utilising road space because they can, which is a complete waste of money on a vociferous minority.

The majority of people I see on bikes are Deliveroo riders who were born outside of the UK, after sailing across the channel—well, they certainly didn’t peddle over.

Although they now do as they like rather than what is necessary, councils need to be held accountable because, of course, it’s easy to spend other people’s money.

Maddy Baloy Dies After Documenting Her Heartbreaking Cancer Battle For Millions On Tiktok

At the age of 26, Maddy Baloy, a TikToker who won over millions of fans by sharing online updates about her life with terminal disease, passed away.

According to her fiancé, the Florida kindergarten teacher passed away on Wednesday night. She had shared personal videos of herself checking off items on her bucket list, such as eating with Gordon Ramsay at his Miami restaurant.

‘Madison passed away peacefully last night,’ her partner Louis Risher told PEOPLE in a statement on Thursday, adding that she was ‘surrounded with love.’

‘She is so special,’ Risher said. ‘I turned 27 yesterday, actually. I was holding her hand all day and that’s all I needed.’

After experiencing stomach problems in the summer of 2022 and vomiting blood, Tampa resident Baloy was eventually diagnosed with stage four colon cancer.

Nevertheless, the 26-year-old maintained her optimism throughout the gruelling ordeal by posting about her inspiring journey on social media, which attracted hundreds of thousands of followers.

In her final TikTok posted in March from Japan, she showed viewers internal photographs of tumours in various parts of her body.

She went on to explain that she was on her dream vacation in Kyoto but the weather was so cold she had been ‘shivering’, so she wanted to face the challenge of taking a bath with her colostomy bag. 

‘Hi, my name is Madison and I have stage four terminal cancer, and I haven’t taken a bath in a year,’ she said. 

‘My cancer is in my large intestine, my small intestine, my uterus, my ovaries—basically, the entire lower half of my body is filled up with cancer. Because of that, I had to have emergency surgery to receive a colostomy [bag].’ 

As tears filled her eyes, she added: ‘The only thing that I can think of is how amazing a bath would feel. This house happens to have the most beautiful bath that I’ve ever seen. But because I have a colostomy, I haven’t taken a bath in a year.’ 

Baloy noted that after she had her colostomy, she never imagined she would take a bath again because it would be too ‘messy.’

‘But I’m in Japan for a very limited amount of time. I’m here on Earth for a very limited amount of time, and I don’t want to be afraid to take a bath. So, come take a bath with me,’ she said as tears fell down her face.

Following her diagnosis, Baloy made her first cancer TikTok to share the bucket list, which she was in ‘a hurry to finish’. 

Coming in at number one, Madison said she wanted to ‘see everything.’

She also revealed that she wanted to party in a DJ booth, learn how to roll a joint, have a wedding, get a tattoo with her grandma, sleep under a willow tree, be a podcast guest, and meet Gordon Ramsay.

In response to her clip, the 57-year-old British chef said he would love to meet Madison—and not just as a regular meet-and-greet. 

This is such a sad story, but why are so many young people getting this so early? Probably because the majority of people eat processed foods that are eaten daily from a box, packet or tin. Not fresh, wholesome foods that we are used to, and the worst thing about it is our government allows these companies to sell people this garbage.

Cancer screenings should be done free of charge from the age of 30 years old, if not before, and for all cancers—earlier if there’s a family history of cancer.

Let’s thank Gordon Ramsey for giving this lady her wish to dine at your restaurant, and even cook for her. In this age of celebrity culture, some celebrities would have ignored her request, but Gordon is awesome for doing this.

This woman was very young to have stage 4 colon cancer. What the hell is going on, and what’s going into our food and water? And it puts life into perspective when something like this happens. Heaven just got an angel with a beautiful smile and a sweet soul.

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