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Will Mellor is the first contestant announced for Strictly Come Dancing. The actor, 46, starred as Gaz in cult Noughties sitcom Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps, also landing roles in dramas Line Of Duty and Broadchurch. He joined the cast of ITV soap Coronation Street in 2021 as “out-and-out baddie” drugs lord Harvey, and also starred in Hollyoaks in the early part of his career. His […]

Premier League players will no longer take the knee ahead of every match, but remain committed to fighting racism and all forms of discrimination. The gesture, which started in June 2020 in solidarity for the Black Lives Matter campaign, will now be used in specific moments throughout the forthcoming campaign in order to “amplify the message that racism has no place in football or society”. Premier League captains agreed to […]

Senior Labour MPs have written to the chief executive of BT, urging him to intervene in a pay dispute which has sparked strikes by thousands of workers. The party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, and shadow digital, media and sport secretary Lucy Powell urged Philip Jansen to enter into negotiations with the Communication Workers Union (CWU). They said he should follow the lead of other chief executives and “take your place […]

Inspectors have boarded the first cargo ship to leave Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbour after the vessel anchored off Istanbul. Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and UN officials have been checking if the grain shipment is in accordance with an agreement signed last month by Moscow and Kyiv to unblock Ukraine’s agricultural exports and ease the global food crisis. The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni, which the United Nations says is carrying 26,527 […]

Joleon Lescott believes Liverpool will miss Sadio Mane sorely as they bid to overhaul his old club Manchester City this season. Mane’s £85million replacement Darwin Nunez made a promising start to his Liverpool career with a goal in the Reds’ 3-1 victory over rivals City in the season-opening Community Shield on Sunday. Yet after playing a key role in much of the Merseysiders’ successes of recent years, Senegal forward Mane, […]

Scientists are launching a new study to see if drinking beetroot juice can help people with type 2 diabetes burn fat more efficiently. Research using animals has previously shown that nitrates can turn white fat storage cells into brown fat cells which are easier to burn off. But now a team from the University of Portsmouth and Bournemouth University will looking at the effects of drinking nitrate-rich beetroot juice on […]

Bakery chain Greggs saw sales jump in the first half of the year as customers turned to value meals amid the cost-of-living squeeze, but warned its cost inflation could hit 9%. Sales leapt by 27.1% in the 26 weeks to July 2 to a total of £694.5 million, compared with £546.2 million a year earlier. But half-year profits remained largely flat year on year at £55.8 million compared with £55.5 […]

Thousands of fans are celebrating England’s historic Euros triumph as the team are credited with inspiring the nation. The Lionesses beat Germany 2-1 after extra time in front of 87,000 supporters at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, securing the first major tournament title for the country since 1966 and setting a television viewing record. Fans in Trafalgar Square hailed the victory as a “massive” moment for women’s football, while the FA’s […]

England’s Euro 2022 final with Germany was watched by an average of 11.0 million people on TV, a record for a women’s football match in the UK. The audience peaked at more than 17 million in the closing minutes of the Lionesses’ 2-1 victory, according to overnight figures released by the ratings organisation Barb. This is also a record for a women’s football game. The previous highest peak came during […]