Chester Zoo scientists are spearheading a study into how zoos can benefit people’s wellbeing. Zoos from around the world are taking part in the study Visitors invited to share insights into their mood, nature-connectedness and more The results should shed light on the value of zoos to society. An animal adoption is up for grabs for participants!

Miller Homes has opened applications for the first round of its 2026 Community Fund, inviting charities and community groups across the North West, including Coppull to apply for grants to support local projects and initiatives. The fund offers donations ranging from £250 to £2,000, helping organisations that make a positive difference within the communities where the homebuilder operates.

Three months ago, the bus company extended its 600 service between Carlisle and Cockermouth to continue on to Whitehaven, and the half-hourly service has proved so popular with the public that last Friday, 6 March, it reached the milestone of carrying its 10,000th passenger. This has been made possible by financial support from Cumberland Council through its Cumberland Go initiative.

New TUC analysis reveals millions of women will start to benefit from new workers’ rights measures from next month. Women will disproportionately benefit from removal of statutory sick pay earnings threshold in April and from rights to guaranteed hours next year. Just over half of workers on zero-hours contracts are women.

The TUC has called for a stronger worker voice on the boards of pension megafunds, as the government looks to scale up schemes and improve governance standards. In a new report launched at the TUC’s Pension Conference today, the union body looks at the vital role member representation plays in pension funds around the world. Pensions Minister Torsten Bell MP is also due to address the conference.

Pub bells across the UK will ring out early this evening at 6pm – and each night over the next six days – as part of a new campaign by Greene King and Macmillan Cancer Support to raise awareness of the one in six men in the UK who will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime.

The government’s latest Spring Statement failed to include the package of support for pubs that the licensing trade hoped for and indeed in many quarters was expecting. In an interim statement in January 2026, eligible pubs and live music venues received 15% business rates relief for 2026/27, followed by a real-terms freeze for two further years.

Over the last few weeks, we have seen a dizzying array of policy announcements on local government finance – from the final settlement and the outcome of the fair funding review to the takeover of SEND deficits and the new councils receiving Exceptional Financial Support (EFS).

Yorkshire leaders, businesses, farmers, food producers, and many more are working with citizens from across the UK to shape a new government Food Strategy. York & North Yorkshire was the second of the What Works Here Inquiries and involved representatives from across the region's food system coordinated by Deliciously Yorkshire. The Inquiries are being led by the Citizen Advisory Council (CAC), a group of citizens from across the UK, who are working with government to understand the way food works in York & North Yorkshire, the challenges for many families in affording healthy, local produce and how national government could help.

Long-distance train operator CrossCountry yesterday welcomed passengers onboard its first refurbished Voyager train - marking a major milestone in a £75 million investment to upgrade long-distance travel across Britain.

A study to encourage more Black men to get checked for prostate cancer, led by a University of Sunderland researcher, has received a funding boost of almost half a million pounds to continue its work on a larger scale.

Blackburn Diocese Mothers’ Union (MU) has been awarded a Bronze Award by the Central MU in recognition of their work to highlight the issue of domestic abuse.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was arrested on the morning of his 66th birthday earlier this week. The Met Police had been investigating claims that his royal protection officers had been ‘turning a blind eye’ during visits to Epstein’s Island. What a way to celebrate another trip around the sun!

Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has submitted a robust response to the government’s consultation on how best to manage the future of the UK’s gas sector. The consultation looks at how to best ensure the UK’s energy security and the gas it needs for decades to come as supply and demand across the energy mix evolves, within a period of geopolitical and economic uncertainty.

Lettings experts from Linley & Simpson, Yorkshire, give advice for landlords and renters when it comes to the right to request pets Today, 20th February 2026, marks National Love Your Pet Day – a dedicated day to show some extra love and shower our furry friends with treats.

Savers in the North of England are being urged to shop around for tax-free returns as new analysis reveals a widening gap between the market’s best and worst-performing Cash ISAs. Data from Investec Save shows that while the top 10 one-year fixed-rate ISAs average 4.11%, the lowest-paying accounts on the market offer just 3.15%.

You’ve barely packed away the last of the fairy lights and wrestled with the glut of bloated January bills, and just as you come up for air, half term. Really, so soon?! BACP counsellor Margaret Ward-Martin, founder of The Grace Project, looks at how to make the most of the half-term ‘break’ for both parents and children.

The Epstein files were recently released to the public, and revealed that those closely connected to the convicted child sex offender were disturbingly close positions of power. In the immediate fallout Peter Mandelson has been forced to resign.

Those words, spoken decades after the Cuban Missile Crisis, are chilling not because they recount a distant danger, but because they remind us how thin the margin for survival once was. For those of us old enough to have lived through 1962, the fear was immediate, tangible, and inescapable. Radios stayed on in the home. Harold Macmillan the Prime Minister, looked very grave - and very old - on the television. There was only one topic of conversation.

New research into the link between longer stays in A&E and mortality rates makes a significant contribution to the evidence about the consequences of overcrowding in Emergency Departments. That’s the key message from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine following a new study on delay-related harm in EDs which was published in the Emergency Medicine Journal (EMJ) today, 12 February.

I listened to Kemi Badenoch on the Today programme this morning, and I was appalled. It's not just Kemi Badenoch; it's the system. What on earth is the matter with politicians when their central focus seems to be the destruction of their opponents? What's wrong with governing the country? Why not give it a go? You never know; it might just work out well.