Category Archives: Liverpool

‘An exceptional experience’: Adrian Dunbar to curate Samuel Beckett festival in Liverpool

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Line of Duty actor will oversee classic plays as well as new pieces inspired by the Irish author in Beckett: Unbound 2024

Adrian Dunbar is to curate a festival in Liverpool dedicated to the work of Samuel Beckett. The programme includes four specially commissioned productions, one involving prisoners at HMP Liverpool.

The Line of Duty actor said of Beckett: Unbound 2024: “Engaging with Beckett makes you think about the fundamentals of life. Those fundamentals are sometimes hard to engage with, but at the end, when he drives everything to a conclusion, he also makes you feel something that is liberating.”

Beckett: Unbound, Liverpool and Paris, 30 May–7 June

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Sunak says ‘all sides should show restraint’ after Iranian attack on Israel – as it happened

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British PM says he will speak to Netanyahu to express solidarity and discuss how further escalation can be avoided

UK general election opinion poll tracker: Labour leading as election looms

David Cameron ruled out trying to become PM again in an interview this morning. (See 9.30am.) But Liz Truss has not done so. In an interview with LBC’s Iain Dale, being broadcast tonight, she did not entirely dismiss the possibility. This is from LBC’s Henry Riley.

Truss is giving interviews to publicise her memoir which is out this week. According to extracts sent out in advance, she also confirmed in her LBC interview that she wanted to see Donald Trump win the US presidential election. She said:

I don’t think [Joe] Biden has been particularly supportive to the United Kingdom. I think he’s often on the side of the EU. And I certainly think I would like to see a new president in the White House …

The thing I would say about Donald Trump is, because I served as secretary of state under both Trump and Biden, and Trump’s policies were actually very effective. If you look at his economic policies, and I met his regulatory czar, I travelled around the United States looking at what he’d done. He cut regulation, he cut taxes, he liberated the US energy supply. And this is why the US has had significantly higher economic growth than Britain.

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Everton paid £30m in interest to lender with links to tax exile, documents suggest

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Exclusive: Charges relate to £225m debt with Rights & Media Funding, with records suggesting a trail leading to Michael Tabor

Everton has paid about £30m in interest charges to an opaque lender associated with a tax exile, corporate records suggest.

The charges appear to have reached about £438,000 a week, according to the troubled Premier League club’s most recent set of accounts, a figure more than three times the reported wages of the Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

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Ex-Liverpool youth footballer Jamie Cassidy jailed for cocaine conspiracy

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Jamie Cassidy was sentenced to 13 years and three months for his part in an international drug operation

A former Liverpool football prodigy of “exceptional talent and promise” has been jailed for more than 13 years for his part in a multimillion-pound drugs conspiracy.

Jamie Cassidy, 46, was “drawn” into the drugs business by his brother Jonathan Cassidy, 50, who the court heard joked about having the same birthday as the Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzmán, also known as El Chapo.

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More young people being radicalised online, says UK counter-terror officer

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Senior detective warns children are accessing extreme material as a result of lockdowns, after a 20-year-old was jailed on Monday

A senior counter-terrorism officer has warned that children and young people are increasingly being radicalised online after spending long periods on the internet during the pandemic.

Det Supt Andy Meeks said a growing number of vulnerable people were accessing extreme material after spending hours unsupervised online.

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Man charged over triple shooting in Liverpool

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Leslie Garrett was arrested by armed response officers after a stun gun was deployed and remains in custody

A man has been charged after shots were fired at three locations in Liverpool on Wednesday night, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.

Leslie Garrett, 49, has been charged with one count of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, two of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and one count of attempted robbery.

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British Asian man sues Liverpool FC over racial discrimination

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Asad Farooq, 25, claims club rejected his job application in favour of someone less experienced

A British Asian man is suing Liverpool Football Club, claiming it racially discriminated against him by rejecting his application for a job in favour of someone less experienced.

Asad Farooq, 25, has a degree in stadium and event management, and has worked for Tottenham Hotspur and at the Qatar World Cup, but was not invited for an interview when he applied to Liverpool in November last year for a job in administration.

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‘Very difficult’: father of Luis Díaz speaks for first time after release by Colombia guerillas

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Luis Manuel Díaz has described how he spent 12 days trekking through mountains with almost no sleep

The father of Liverpool footballer Luis Díaz has spoken publicly of how he endured almost two weeks of arduous treks and sleepless nights while held captive by armed guerrillas on the Colombian-Venezuelan border.

Luis Manuel Díaz, 58, said: “It was a lot of horseback riding, really hard, a lot of mountains, a lot of rain, too many insects.” A weak Díaz, who was helped to and from a chair by his family, told journalists in his home town of Barrancas in Colombia: “I couldn’t sleep peacefully, it was very difficult, almost 12 days without sleep.”

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Indie band the Night Café ‘devastated’ by sudden death of lead singer Sean Martin

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Frontman’s Liverpool bandmates and fellow touring band the Wombats post tribute message and pictures online

The indie band the Night Café have said they are “devastated” as they announced the sudden death of their lead singer, Sean Martin. The group, from Liverpool, announced the news on Instagram: “We are devastated to share the sudden passing of our best friend Sean.

“Words can’t describe the pain we are feeling right now. We’re still struggling to process it all. We ask everyone to respect the privacy of Sean’s family and friends during this difficult time.

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Rebel group claims military action delaying release of Luis Díaz’s father

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  • Liverpool player’s father kidnapped in Colombia
  • Group warns military in local area putting him at risk

The rebel group holding Luis Díaz’s father claims military action in the local area is not only delaying the release of their hostage but putting him at risk. Díaz’s parents were kidnapped more than a week ago – his mother was freed quickly – and despite pledges from the National Liberation Army of Colombia (ELN) to expedite the return of Díaz Sr, it is taking longer than expected.

“On November 2, we informed the country of the decision to release Mr Luis Manuel Díaz, father of the player Luis Díaz,” said a statement, signed by the unit leader, Commander Jose Manuel Martinez Quiroz.

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Mohamed Salah makes donation and calls for aid to be allowed into Gaza

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  • Striker said to have made significant donation
  • ‘The people of Gaza need food and supplies urgently’

Mohamed Salah has appealed for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza after making a donation to help those affected by Israeli air strikes.

The Egypt and Liverpool striker, one of the highest-profile Muslim footballers in the world, made the donation to the Egyptian Red Crescent on Sunday. The amount was undisclosed but is said to be significant.

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Letters from George Harrison’s mum reveal her horror at Beatles fans

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Louise Harrison wrote of her disgust at screaming fans in letters to be sold at annual Liverpool Beatles Auction

In an inflammatory 1964 essay on the “menace of Beatlism”, the historian and commentator Paul Johnson described the fans who screamed themselves into hysteria as “the least fortunate of their generation, the dull, the idle, the failures”.

He wasn’t alone. A newly revealed letter from George Harrison’s mum shows that she was similarly horrified.

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Thousands march in Liverpool as city hosts Kyiv Pride

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City continues relationship with Ukrainian capital forged when it hosted Eurovision song contest

Thousands took to the streets of Liverpool on Saturday as the city hosted KyivPride on behalf of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and an organiser praised the “amazing friendship” between the cities.

The joint march continues a relationship built when Liverpool hosted the Eurovision song contest on behalf of the war-torn country earlier this year.

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Ports rebuff UK plan to house asylum seekers on cruise ships

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Government reportedly hands back two vessels after ports in the Wirral, London and Scotland deny permission to dock

Controversial plans to house asylum seekers on redundant cruise ships have been thrown into disarray after two vessels were unable to find somewhere to dock.

There had been tentative reported plans for cruise ships to be housed in the Wirral, just outside Edinburgh and in London, but the proposals were all rebuffed. Sky News reported that two ships have been returned to their prior owners after their acquisition by the government.

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Fan arrested at Wembley for wearing shirt referencing Hillsborough disaster

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  • Police act after image of Manchester United shirt spread online
  • ‘He has been arrested on suspicion of a public order offence’

A man has been arrested at Wembley after a picture emerged of a football fan wearing a jersey with what appeared to be a reference to the Hillsborough disaster printed on the back.

The Metropolitan Police Events Twitter account retweeted a picture of a man wearing a Manchester United shirt that had the number 97 on the back and the words “Not Enough”.

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Juror jailed for causing rape trial to collapse by researching defendant online

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Jason Carr, who had worked for the police, looked up details of the man on trial despite judge telling jurors it was illegal to do so

An “unashamed and unrepentant” juror who spent two decades in the police has been jailed for six months after causing a rape trial to collapse by researching the defendant online.

Jason Carr thought he “knew better than the lawyers” and used his phone to search for details about the man on trial believing there were gaps in the evidence, a judge at Liverpool crown court said.

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This year’s Eurovision is most watched final in song contest’s history, says BBC

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During a five-minute peak in the UK, 11m people were watching, while the average viewing figure was 9.9m

Saturday night’s Eurovision song contest in Liverpool was the most watched grand final in the competition’s history, the BBC has said.

In the UK, there was a five-minute peak of 11 million people watching and an average viewing figure of 9.9 million, which equates to a 63% TV audience share.

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Ukraine aims for repeat victory in most political Eurovision in years

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Four-hour broadcast will feature taunts at Putin and a singalong of a Liverpool anthem

There will be rockets, soldiers and moustachioed men in their underpants lampooning Vladimir Putin as a “crocodile psychopath” – and that’s just the Croatian act.

One of the most stridently political Eurovision grand finals in years takes place in Liverpool on Saturday night against a backdrop of a war in Ukraine that shows little sign of ending.

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ENO chief says Liverpool and Manchester ‘strong contenders’ for new home

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Stuart Murphy says other cities in running but stresses chances of either northern city hosting opera company

Liverpool and Manchester are “really strong contenders” to be the new home of the English National Opera (ENO), its chief executive has said, after the cultural body was forced to leave London.

Stuart Murphy, who steps down later this year, said three potential bases would be selected by the end of May and a winner chosen by the end of this year.

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Liverpool fans boo during national anthem before match at Anfield

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Football club says how spectators choose to react to God Save the King is a ‘personal choice’

The British national anthem has been met with resounding boos at Anfield, with Liverpool fans drowning out the music with heckles before their fixture against Brentford hours after King Charles’s coronation.

Liverpool supporters could also be heard chanting “Liverpool, Liverpool” in what has become somewhat of a tradition whenever the national anthem is played at the ground.

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