Economy

Contemporary art trail begins in city centre

by Aurora
written by Aurora

A trail of original, contemporary artwork has gone on display in a city centre.

The community interest company Gloucester Contemporary Artists (GCA) has created the trail in the city as part of the Adopt An Artist event in a bid to make contemporary art accessible and engaging for members of the public.

During the month-long event, shops, cafes and businesses in the city centre are displaying artwork made by local professional artists in their windows.

"We want to get the people of Gloucester involved in temporary art by having a go themselves," said David Finch, from GCA.

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Industry

Health trust pioneers treatment for eye disease

by Landon
written by Landon

A Surrey health trust says it is to become the first in the UK to trial a drug for a debilitating eye condition.

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust has recruited its first patient for a weekly injection to tackle thyroid eye disease.

Caused by an overactive thyroid gland, the disease can cause eyes to feel dry and gritty, become bulging and swollen and sensitive to light, and can lead to blurred or double vision, according to the NHS.

The new treatment will involve patients injecting themselves with pre-prepared syringes over the course of 24 weeks, rather than having to make regular visits to hospital.

The drug being trialled, Efgartigimod, reduces the antibodies thought to trigger the disease.

Dr Anuradha Jayaprakasam, consultant ophthalmologist and principal investigator for the research study, said she had seen the "devastating side effects" of the condition.

"Rather than dealing with the problems that have happened, they can have a drug such as this which would prevent the condition escalating," she said.

"The drug has the potential to impact on all aspects of the disease, including the appearance changes, and potentially prevent the disease advancing to the level of sight loss.

"It is a great motivation for me to be involved in work that could change the course of the disease for many of our patients."

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Innovation

Northern Ireland rides a rollercoaster of weather patterns

by Laura
written by Laura

Just past the mid-point in the spring season and it has been a rollercoaster ride of weather patterns.

It was the driest March in Northern Ireland since 2012, provisionally the ninth driest on record.

This was also the seventh consecutive month of below average rainfall for the country.

The dry spell continued into this month, with Northern Ireland seeing almost the average sunshine for the month (98%) by 15 April.

BBC Weather Watcher/hols07
People took a visit out to Ballintoy during the sunny weather

Night frosts and wildfires

Initially April was still quite cool, with night frosts, but the second week brought the highest temperature of the year so far,

Temperatures reached 21.8C in Castlederg, County Tyrone, on 10 April.

The extremely dry ground conditions and above average temperatures saw a higher than usual frequency of wildfires for the time of year.

NIFRS
There was a higher than usual frequency of wildfires in April including this one at Bloody Bridge in County Down

The 'fake' summer did not last, as less than a week later, daytime highs dropped by more than 15 degrees in places, as an area of low pressure brought over an inch of rain on Wednesday.

Also the maximum temperatures were more typical of winter, just 5.5C at Altnahinch in the Antrim hills.

A severe weather warning was in force.

Many places in Northern Ireland probably saw more rainfall on Wednesday than they had in all of March and early April.

Weather for Easter Monday and Tuesday

BBC Weather Watcher/Mr T
Temperatures won't be as high as they were a few weeks ago in Dromara

Another area of low pressure brought yet more prolonged and locally heavy rain on Good Friday which has lingered into the start of the Easter weekend.

A yellow rain warning was issued for parts of counties Antrim and Down from 14:00 BST on Friday until 15:00 on Saturday, which could cause difficult travel conditions.

Caravan and camping sites in parts of County Down, especially around the Mournes may be at risk from spot flooding.

BBC Weather Watcher/John C
This car park in Coleraine was partially flooded after heavy rain this week

Between October and March, Northern Ireland recorded less than two-thirds of its average rainfall.

This makes it, provisionally, the third driest October to March period on record since 1890.

However, this could all change by the end of Saturday and the balance may be redressed.

The rest of the Easter holiday period will be comparatively drier and warmer, with temperatures in the mid-teens on Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday.

A few sharp showers are still in the forecast, but there will certainly be a lot of dry weather too.

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Global Trade

Centuries of river re-routing to be reversed

by Carter
written by Carter

Work has begun to restore a river's traditional course after centuries of re-routing straightened it to create farmland.

The historic meandering of a 1km (0.6 mile) section of the River Breamish on the Harehope Estate, south of Wooler in Northumberland, will be reinstated.

Contractors are excavating and diverting the river into its historic channels, installing silt traps, shallow ponds, wetlands, embankment breaches and constructing new woody dams.

The Breamish restoration is expected to be completed by late Summer, the Life Wader project said.

It is part of a wider River Till Restoration Strategy, named after the river the Breamish flows into.

Disconnection from its floodplain has led to a decline in freshwater species, reduced biodiversity and an increased risk of flooding, Life Wader said.

The work, which has been in development since 2019 and received planning approval in 2024, got under way late last week.

LIFE WADER
The river's natural channels will be restored (artist's rendition)

Phil Kearney, project manager at Tweed Forum which is involved in the restoration, said: "We should be hopefully complete within about eight to 10 weeks."

Jim Heslop, from the Environment Agency in north-east England, said the scheme will give "a boost for wildlife".

It is part of a five-year, £5.8m nature recovery project co-funded by the European Union and due for completion in December 2026.

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Market

Irish exports to US surged 400% in March ahead of tariffs

by Linda
written by Linda

Ireland's goods exports to the United States increased by almost 400% in March as manufacturers raced to get products into the country ahead of President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Sales to the US were worth just over €25bn, compared to €5bn during March 2024.

It made March a record month for overall goods exports from Ireland with sales worth €37bn, almost double the €19bn achieved in March 2024.

The surge was lead by pharmaceuticals with sales of €23.6bn, up by 243% on the same month last year.

In April, Trump imposed a minimum tariff of 10% on almost all countries, while proposing extra "reciprocal" duties for some trading partners, including 20% on the EU.

He later suspended the reciprocal measures, giving partners 90 days to negotiate.

The US is Ireland's biggest export market and pharmaceuticals are the most important sector.

The country is a major manufacturing hub for US companies like Pfizer and Eli Lilly.

Jane Burmanje, statistician at Ireland's Central Statistics Office said: "More than two thirds (68.2%) of export goods went to the USA (€25.4 billion).

"This means, for every €1 worth of goods Ireland exported in March 2025, almost 70 cent went to the US."

Uncertainty

Last week, the Irish government revised down its economic growth forecasts due to the uncertainty unleashed by Trump's tariff policies.

It expects Ireland's domestic economy to expand by 2.5% this year, down from an earlier forecast of 2.9%.

In the event of a tariff war between the EU and US, it said growth this year would be forecast at 2%, falling to 1.75% next year.

That does not include the potential impact of additional tariffs on pharma products which were not part of the analysis.

Ireland's Foreign Minister, Simon Harris, travelled to Brussels on Thursday to meet the European Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič.

Šefčovič is leading the EU's tariff negotiations with the US.

Speaking ahead of the meeting Harris said: "Ireland's consistent position remains that we need to get into a substantive, calm, measured and comprehensive dialogue with the United States.

"At the same time, we understand the need for the EU to undertake further internal preparations in case negotiations are unsuccessful. This is a sensible and measured approach."

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Business

Stamps made to mark 80th anniversary of VE Day

by Nathan
written by Nathan

A special set of stamps is being issued to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

The collection of 10 stamps will honour men and women who made contributions during World War Two, while a mini-sheet of stamps has images of Dame Vera Lynn from different aspects of her wartime career.

Royal Mail will also be applying a special VE80 postmark on stamped mail in the week of the anniversary in May.

Emma Gilthorpe, chief executive of Royal Mail, said: "Royal Mail is proud to issue these stamps honouring the courage, sacrifice and resilience of those who fought for freedom and peace."

Royal Mail
RAF pilot Mahinder Singh Pujji received the Distinguished Flying Cross

People featured on the stamps include:

– Mahinder Singh Pujji, a Royal Air Force and Indian Air Force pilot awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and commemorated with a statue in Gravesend, Kent.

– George Arthur Roberts, the first black man to join the London Auxiliary Fire Service.

– Mary Morris, whose diaries described how she nursed troops returning wet and wounded from Dunkirk.

– John Harrison, who served in the Royal Navy on the destroyer HMS Belfast.

– Bhanbhagta Gurung, who fought in Operation Longcloth in Burma and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery.

– Thomas Peirson Frank, a civil engineer and surveyor whose rapid-response teams repaired more than 100 breaches of the River Thames wall during air raids.

– William Tutte, a codebreaker whose work was key to decrypting the Lorenz cipher, the German code used for top-level communication and intelligence.

PA Media
A mini-sheet of stamps has images of Dame Vera Lynn from different aspects of her wartime career

Dame Vera Lynn lived in the East Sussex village of Ditchling before her death in 2020.

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Tech

Pub could be demolished for Lidl car parking

by Hailey
written by Hailey

A Wolverhampton pub which closed four years ago could soon be flattened for car parking.

The Swan on Bilston High Street is surrounded on three sides by car parking for the neighbouring Lidl store and other retail units.

The supermarket has applied for permission to demolish the building, which the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) said was built in 1898.

Plans submitted to City of Wolverhampton Council this week show an extra 12 parking spaces would be created if permission were to be granted.

Camra's website said the former Banks's pub previously avoided demolition when the surrounding area was redeveloped in 1992, and finally closed its doors in October 2021.

The demolition plan is currently open for public consultation on the city council website.

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Global Trade

City councillor resigns from Labour group

by Kristen
written by Kristen

A Nottingham councillor has quit the Labour Party to sit as an independent.

City councillor AJ Matsiko, who represents the Sherwood ward, announced his resignation on Monday.

Matsiko was suspended at the beginning of April, having posted a statement on social media alleging party officials had engaged in "unacceptable" behaviour at a local Labour Group meeting.

A Labour spokesperson said the party did not comment on internal processes, but added its councillors in Nottingham would continue to focus on "rebuilding the council's finances and delivering for our residents".

Matsiko told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he had stood down following two key incidents.

These include the rejection of a motion to stop three city libraries being handed over to voluntary groups at a meeting in January, and the "repeated imposition of leadership roles".

"After witnessing the lack of democracy and basic decency within the leadership of the Nottingham Labour Group, I have concluded that now is the appropriate time to leave the majority group and serve as an independent councillor," he said.

"The group has abandoned the core principles of the Labour Party, such as natural justice and sound democratic processes as well as continuing to make poor financial and other decisions."

LDRS
The meeting in January was held at Loxley House

Matsiko also criticised the process of selecting the authority's new leader, Neghat Khan, and deputy leader Ethan Radford

Labour's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) stepped in to oversee the election of the leadership.

Potential candidates were interviewed and suitable applicants were due to be presented to the Labour Group for the final decision.

However, the NEC only selected Khan as a suitable candidate and she was installed as the new leader ahead of the meeting.

The Nottingham Labour Group referred to the statement from the Labour Party spokesperson when contacted for comment.

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