Ministers have been urged to clamp down on a scheme that gives benefits claimants taxpayer-funded laptops, bikes and tools when they secure new jobs.Under the generous programme, some unemployed people are even being put up in Airbnbs at the public’s expense to help them back into the world of work.Others have been handed gardening tools, tattooing equipment and train tickets costing hundreds of pounds by Jobcentre ‘work coaches’.The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) insists checks are in place to ensure the expensive…

Christine McGuiness proudly declared earlier this week that she’s a ‘five-star lesbian’ on the look out for a wife – and it seems she may have already caught someone’s eye.As I can disclose the former Housewives of Cheshire star, 38, who was married to TV Paddy McGuinness for 11 years before they split in 2022, is getting close to Olympic boxing star Nicola Adams, 43.The pair recently attended The DIVA Awards 2026, a celebration of the achievements of LGBTQIA women and non-binary people, at the Leonardo Royal Hotel, in…

A 66-year-old man has been charged with several offences following a car bomb attack outside a police station in Belfast. The suspect was arrested in the Dunmurry area under the Terrorism Act on Tuesday. He has been charged with several offences, including attempted murder, possessing explosives with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, possession of articles for use in terrorism and hijacking. It comes…

Labour lord and former Blairite minister Chris Smith has warned that a new test for migrants could be easy to cheat and 'game' the system. The Home Office is proposing a new online test for English language proficiency - which would be impossible to invigilate and would make it easy for an applicant to look the answers up on another device.Although cheaper, the proposal has been strongly criticised by Lord Smith, who argues it would tear up the trusted system in place for years of in-person examinations. The…