Howard Travis

And finally, we raise a glass to whoever this dedicated @BedfordBluesRFC fan is - who distracted the crowd by knocking back a pint in one go. Whoever you are sir, we salute you ... 😂

In the dark, he felt something tighten against his leg. It was a tripwire. He had a few seconds to decide, and he chose to lie down on top of the grenade. It was the night of 9 February 2008, near Sangin in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. A four-man patrol from 40 Commando, Royal Marines, was moving through a compound on a reconnaissance mission. It was pitch black. At the front of the patrol was a 24-year-old lance corporal from Solihull in the West Midlands. He had joined the Royal Marines in November 2000. He had served three tours in Iraq. Only three months earlier, in November 2007, he had kept a comrade who had been shot in the chest alive for more than twenty minutes under heavy fire, until the medic could reach them. A week after that, he was injured in a road accident and flown home with a suspected broken leg. He went through intensive physiotherapy and was back in Afghanistan within weeks. His name was Matt Croucher. As he moved forward that night, he felt the wire against his leg. He looked down. He had set off a grenade. There was no time to run. There was nowhere to go. The other marines were close enough that the blast could kill them. So Matt did something almost impossible to imagine. He threw himself to the ground on top of the grenade. He used his rucksack to pin it to the floor. He pulled his legs up tight to his body. And he waited for it to go off. It exploded. The blast threw him some distance. It ripped the rucksack off his back. His body armour and helmet were pitted with fragments. A large lithium battery in his pack, used to power the patrol's electronic equipment, was ruptured and burst into flames. And somehow, he was alive. His rucksack and body armour had taken the force of the explosion. He had a nosebleed, perforated eardrums and was badly shaken. That was all. Of the rest of the patrol, one man had managed to get round the corner of a building. The patrol commander had thrown himself to the ground and was hit by a small fragment in the face, a superficial wound. The fourth man had not had time to react at all. He was still on his feet, well within the grenade's lethal range. Matt's body, and the pack beneath it, had been between that man and the blast. A medic recommended that Matt be evacuated. He refused. The marines knew the explosion would bring enemy fighters to investigate. They stayed, set an ambush, and fought them. Matt was originally put forward for the Victoria Cross. Because the grenade was a booby trap rather than an act of an enemy in front of him, the award he received was the George Cross, which recognises the same level of courage when no enemy is present. It was announced on 23 July 2008. On 30 October 2008, Queen Elizabeth II presented him with the George Cross at Buckingham Palace. He was one of only a handful of living recipients of the medal. His home town of Solihull gave him the Freedom of the Borough that December. He later wrote a book about his experiences, called Bulletproof. The rucksack that saved his life, burned and torn, has been kept and displayed alongside his medals. Most acts of heroism end with a funeral. Matt Croucher's ended with a nosebleed, and three friends who got to go home.

Never forget the sacrifices that they made I have respect for each and every one of them.

He Tore Up a Beggar’s Sign... But What He Did Next Changed His Life Forever! ❤️🥹

Police said they had no leads. CCTV was too expensive. Warning signs failed. So a fed-up village councillor came up with an ingenious plan: hide an Apple AirTag inside a 300-year-old stone. Matt Smith, 43, from Holmeswood, Lancashire, was determined to stop thieves repeatedly dismantling a historic boundary wall connecting Holmeswood and Rufford. Around 30 coping stones from the 18th-century wall had disappeared during three separate raids. The stones, dating back to the 1730s, were part of the area’s heritage—and their theft was causing frustration and heartbreak throughout the community. After police said there were no CCTV or forensic opportunities, Smith asked the wall’s owner for permission to conceal an AirTag inside a loose stone. Then he waited. On the morning of October 25, 2025, his phone began notifying him that the tracker had moved. The signal led Lancashire Police’s South Rural Task Force directly to a backyard in Wigan, belonging to 41-year-old Craig Barker. Officers discovered approximately £7,000 worth of stolen stones from the local wall. They also reportedly found other stolen masonry from across the country, bringing the estimated value of the wider haul to as much as £40,000. Four local farmers helped load the recovered stones and transport them to police headquarters. Smith said: “It was a great feeling to know we had found the man responsible for causing the community so much pain.” Barker initially denied the offences but later pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and one count of handling stolen goods. At Wigan Magistrates’ Court, he received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for 22 months, a probation requirement and £587 in court costs. The historic stones were eventually returned and reinstalled, with local residents and contractors helping restore the wall. What began as repeated thefts from a quiet rural community ended with a simple tracking device, determined neighbours and a piece of technology hidden inside a stone. Sometimes, protecting your community means refusing to give up when everyone else thinks there’s nothing more that can be done.

Introducing your Real Ale Festival line-up 🍺 We’ve scoured England & Wales to bring you 1️⃣2️⃣ of the finest ales for our home clash 🆚 @DoncasterKnight 🔵⚔️ Hospitality still available in the main activation hub of the CMC Marquee 🍽️ Full details ➡️ bit.ly/4sO1ZK0

Incredibly, the charities that lobbied for Labour to U-turn on settlement reforms have received £1 billion of British taxpayer money from Labour. And 4 in 5 of the respondents to the 'consultation' were foreign nationals! So British taxpayers are being forced to pay activist charities to undermine their interests. At a time when public services are in crisis. When you struggle to get a GP appointment. When thousands of British people die each year waiting too long for emergency treatment. When a million young people are out of work. Enough is enough. Reform will reverse the Boriswave. We will listen to one voice and one voice only: The British people.

I’m really disappointed to see @Plaid_Cymru members wearing white poppies in the Senedd during Remembrance. The red poppy is not a celebration of war. It is a symbol of respect, remembrance and gratitude to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Surely we can all support peace without turning our backs on a symbol that has united generations in honouring our Armed Forces. We will remember them.

Why is Andy Burnham so concerned about other countries’ debt when our own is over £100,000 for every household? Not a single penny of British taxpayers’ money should be spent on reparations.

We are thrilled to announce an expansion of our partnership with Knox Hydrate, locking in the world’s fastest-growing hydration brand as the club’s Official Front-of-Shirt Partner in a three-year deal. Knox Hydrate branding will proudly feature on the front of all matchday shirts for the Men’s first team, Newcastle United Women, and the Academy teams from the start of the 2026-27 season. Read more: newcastleunited.com/en/news/…

Peter Duncan cleaning Big Ben on a 1980 episode of Blue Peter (BBC). With no harness.

If, as The Telegraph reports, Burnham is going to make reparation in the shape of millions towards health and education in the Caribbean to “atone” for the slave trade, I guarantee that he will lose a General election whether he calls it sooner or later. A shocking decision. The guy’s a dud.

‘I’m interested in shutting down this debate.’ Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch shuts down the conversation on rejoining the EU and says she doesn’t want to give the topic any attention. 📺 Freeview 236, Sky 512, Virgin 604