“This town is an absolute disgrace… all it is is takeaways, nail bars, tattoo shops,” says one Runcorn resident walking through the old town on a raining Monday afternoon.
An award-winning theatre, The Brindley, is the star attraction of the Cheshire town – several locals recommend it as a place to shelter from the wet weather due to its modern and well-loved cafe, but it’s not difficult for it to take centre stage among a number of boarded up buildings and shut down shops.
In Runcorn’s defence, the local council is under huge financial pressure. Last year, Halton Council spent 93 per cent of its core funding on adult social care – and was forced to rely on £35m of exceptional financial support from central government despite making cuts and selling off assets.
Channel 4 to bring its shows to Disney+ – what we know
Channel 4 and the Walt Disney Company have struck a deal that will bring the British broadcaster’s shows to Disney+ in the UK and Ireland next year.
What you need to know
The agreement includes multiple Channel 4 shows being made available on-demand each year on Disney+, at the same time as their release on the station.
These include drama starring Bella Ramsey, comedy featuring Denise Welch, and reality show Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins – along with Channel 4’s main TV channel and additional on-demand content.
How will it work?
When can you watch?
From 2027, Disney+ customers will be able to watch Channel 4’s linear HD channel, plus scripted and unscripted content at no extra cost.
What will be featured?
Channel 4 shows available “day and date” on Disney+, and access to new Channel 4 shows each year.
Where can you find it?
There will be a dedicated Channel 4-branded section intergrated into Disney +.
Why Putin will welcome Trump’s post-midterms mayhem
Even while Vladimir Putin does what he can to help Donald Trump salvage something from this month’s midterm elections, the Russian President is working on the assumption that the Republicans will lose badly.
The Kremlin’s goal
The Kremlin’s goal is to see the West paralysed by internal division and dispute, and it sees a humiliated Trump as a disruptive one.
Mired in a badly conceived and legally questionable war in the Gulf, with petrol and other prices rising and his erratic personal style increasingly counting against him, Trump has looked to Moscow for help.
Putin’s token efforts to aid Trump
- 1Trump’s deal to buy Russian diesel gave Putin the opportunity to pit Kyiv against the White House.
- 2Last week, Putin also freed Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old US citizen who had been given seven years in prison on charges of being a mercenary fighting for Ukraine.
- 3The Kremlin has also made much of the fact that a ceasefire it has agreed with Kyiv to allow residents of the beleaguered town of Oleshky to receive aid or simply flee the fighting, was driven by the First Lady, Melania.
Why Russia doesn’t care about Trump’s losses
Russians themselves have long regarded Trump as periodically useful, but never reliable.
“We’ve always known that [Trump] was self-indulgent and self-destructive,” a Russian political commentator told The i Paper. “The only question was when he was going to sink his own ship.”
- Moscow has had to see its Venezuelan client toppled and seen European countries ramp up their defence spending at Trump’s behest.
- Trump may press for a peace process as a last chance to secure his legacy and the Nobel Peace Prize.
All the supermarket staples having import tariffs removed
The Chancellor will soon cut tariffs among other cuts to give families “breathing space”.
Budget announcements
Making higher tax-free mileage rates permanent and removing import taxes on some food items are among the measures being announced ahead of Wednesday’s Budget.
The announcements are part of Chancellor John Healey’s pledge to give families what he is calling “breathing space” with the cost of living.
Which foods will have their tariffs cut?
Citrus jams, marmalades and pastes (20% + £19 per 100kg)
Cough drops, boiled sweets, toffees and caramels (8%)
Baked beans (16%)
Other measures announced
- A 55p per mile tax-free mileage rate for those driving up to 10,000 miles for work, with the rate rising from 25p per mile
- Allowing carers to earn more than an existing earnings limit without losing their entire allowance
- Giving two weeks of paternity pay to self-employed fathers
- Rolling out hundreds of additional Post Office drop boxes to make sending parcels easier
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A minimum wage rise
Healey will also announce the new National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20-year-olds on Wednesday as well as the National Living Wage for those aged 21 and over.
has reported that the National Minimum Wage is likely to rise by 3.9% from £10.85 an hour to around £11.27.
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Why Jimmy Carr thinks comedy should be taught in school
Stand up comedian Jimmy Carr has said comedy should be taught in schools.
Here is everything we know.
Comedy is a ‘teachable skill’
54-year-old Carr is known for hosting 8 Out Of 10 Cats and as well as performing his own stand-up comedy shows.
Carr said he thinks no one is born funny and that comedy is a “teachable skill” that can help young people find their “authentic voice”.
Comedy is a ‘valuable skill’
Speaking on the podcast, he said: “I think comedy should be taught in schools, well drama more generally, but comedy specifically.
“It is a teachable skill. Is it an innate ability? Are you born funny? I don’t think so.
He added: “You will write down and order your thoughts. You’ll learn to communicate them and you will speak in your own authentic voice.
“It’s a valuable skill to learn.”
Everything you need to know about Israel’s election
Today, Israel is due to hold its first elections since the 7 October Hamas attacks in 2023.
What you need to know
Many Israelis have described the upcoming election as the most important one in their country’s history.
Polls show current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trailing in the race behind his main challenger, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.
However, it may take weeks or months before it’s clear who will be designated the winner.
More about the key players
Netanyahu has led Israel for 19 of the last 30 years at the head of a far-right coalition. He is currently on trial for corruption, so losing power could risk jail time for him.
Gadi Eisenkot is the former head of the Israeli military. He’s positioned himself as the opposite of Netanyahu, naming his party Yashar, or “Honesty”.
What are the polls saying?
Netanyahu in decline
Most polls show Netanyahu’s Likud and his current coalition parters losing their majority.
Anti-Netanyahu majority
Polls also show a clear anti-Netanyahu majority, but opposition seats are divided.
Palestine parties
Palestinian politicians have indicated they might support a minority government to unseat Netanyahu.
Voters disenfranchised
In the occupied West Bank, more than 500,000 Israeli settlers can vote.
In occupied East Jerusalem more than 230,000 Israelis with voting rights live among 350,000 Palestinians who cannot vote.
Two million Palestinians in Gaza, who live under Israeli military occupation, according to the international court of justice, also have no vote.
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What the result could mean
Neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot supports the establishment of a Palestinian state in the foreseeable future. Their most significant differences concern democratic institutions, the West Bank and Israel’s relationship with the rest of the world.
- Netanyahu has governed with ultra-Orthodox parties that support settlement expansion in the West Bank. Eisenkot presents himself as a more pragmatic alternative. He has also taken a tougher position against violence by Israeli settlers.
The key detail Spotify is asking family plan users to prove
Spotify has outlined a new verification process for family plan users to prove they live in the same household.
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The process
What has changed?
Spotify will now ask family plan users to verify their address using a QR code.
How will it work?
The plan manager opens the QR code which needs to be scanned. All users on the plan need to be in the same place to scan.
What if you don’t?
If verification isn’t completed in seven days, the member can’t join a different Family or Duo plan for 12 months.
As part of our ongoing efforts to improve the quality and value of Premium we implement measures to ensure appropriate use of Spotify accounts. This includes reviewing Household Plans to ensure they are used only by primary account holders and those living at the same address, as stated in our terms and conditions.
a spotify spokesperson told sky news
Meanwhile, almost half of residents living in Halton are among the 20 per cent most deprived nationally.
“Halton borough is one of the most deprived boroughs in the country and experiences significant health inequalities… it has a lower healthy life expectancy than many other boroughs, which means that more people will spend longer towards the end of their life in poor health,” Age UK Mid Mersey CEO Rachel McKernan said.
Speaking from her office overlooking Church Street, McKernan suggests Halton’s high level of deprivation tallies with the significant amount it spends on adult social care, with fewer people in a position to fund their own care.
“Where you’ve got so much deprivation and so few adults who can probably meet the threshold for self-funding, then that does fall on the local authority to meet their care needs,” McKernan said.
“Then you do get those in the middle that only just meet the threshold for self-funding for whom it becomes a significant burden.”
Halton’s adult social care budget has grown significantly in recent years, rising from £53m in 2022-23 to £74.3m in 2025-26, a 40 per cent increase, a report by The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy stated.
The area’s high level of deprivation shapes the support local people require from charities that signpost social care support.
In Age UK Mid Mersey’s office, the most common queries staff have to deal with are those in relation to welfare benefits, McKernan said. A lot of these enquiries are about attendance allowance, a benefit for people of state pension age or older to help with personal care costs.
One woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, held back tears as she spoke of her experience with self-funded social care for her late husband, who had Alzheimer’s. The pensioner said she had paid £900 per week for two weeks’ respite care after her husband, who was 82 at the time, had an accident at home.
“It was forced on me that he had to go into respite care,” she said. “It wasn’t my decision.”
She added that she supports plans for a National Care Service, which the Prime Minister has pledged will provide free personal care for older people, because she thinks it could help people like her who saved up money to “enjoy” in retirement, but who had to use it on such services instead.
“I really thought I was going to lose the house,” she said.
As it struggles with the demands of funding social care, Halton Borough Council increased council tax by 4.99 per cent this year, after a larger rise of 7.99 per cent was denied by the Government. The local authority was also allocated around £16m less via the Government’s Fair Funding Review than it had anticipated.
Local resident Maureen Burgess, who is retired, said she can accept the council tax rise if it is helping people in the area, but called on central government to do more to plug the financial gap in areas like Runcorn.
“You just have to go with it,” she said. “If it’s being spent properly, responsibly, than it’s a good thing, really.” However, she added that “it would be nice to have some kind of announcement to help regional areas” in the Budget.
She hopes she does not need social care support but wants it to be accessible in case. “I just hope that it doesn’t happen. If I did need it, then I would hope that it’s available.”
Others begrudge the rises as unfair when they face having to spend money they saved for later life and to pass on to their children on care instead, and see little value for money.
One pensioner, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “I just don’t think it’s fair when you’ve saved and worked all your life and then somebody who hasn’t on benefits gets it for free.
“All we get done is the bins. This town is an absolute disgrace. There’s just nothing to come down here for.”
Young people are a rare sight in Runcorn town centre as the rain falls – but locals suggest it’s not just because of the miserable weather.
“It’s very hard for the young people to get jobs because there’s not a lot of things round about,” pensioner Carole Shaw said as she waited for a bus at the town centre bus terminal.
A former foster carer for 19 years, Shaw is concerned about the level of spending on services for young people in the area.
And she’s not alone. A report by the Children’s Commissioner for England published last week ranked Halton as the fifth most challenging place to be a child.
It also found that despite youth services – such as youth clubs – being critical for encouraging young people away from getting involved in potentially harmful activity, Halton was one of four local authorities that reported a zero spend on youth services.
The council did, however, spend 42 per cent spent on child social care, including fostering services, in 2025-26. And it has refuted the commissioner’s finding on its lack of youth spending.
Adam Cho, regional manager for P3 Charity’s regional young people and family services, said spending money through child social care is worthwhile “because the young people are getting the support that they need when they need it in that respect”.
Halton Borough Council said it “remains committed” to finding new ways to drive down spending.
It added that “while great progress has been made to improve Halton’s long term financial sustainability, ongoing support from Government through Exceptional Financial Support is still currently necessary.
“Our hope for the Budget is that the Government fund the remaining 10 per cent of accumulated SEND High Needs deficits, building on their welcome commitment to fund 90 per cent of historic deficits and, in addition, provide greater recognition of care market pressures within future funding allocations.”