Latest scorecard from the third one-day international between Afghanistan and Bangladesh in Sharjah.
Source link
Afghanistan beat Bangladesh to take ODI series 2-1 – scorecard
Coedely crash victim’s sister describes driving as ‘too daunting’
BBCThe sister of a teenager who died in a car crash is scared to learn to drive because of what happened.
Callum Griffiths, 19, from Porth was killed in a crash in Coedely, Rhondda Cynon Taf, last December, alongside friends, Morgan Smith, 18 and Jesse Owen, 18.
Erin Griffiths, 16, can get her provisional licence next year but said she already had anxiety and was planning to put off lessons.
“Since Callum, it is a lot more daunting to think about my friends in a car or me in a car. It’s really scary. You never know what can happen to you,” she said.
Callum’s smiling face on the wall is the first thing you see when you walk into the living room of his family home.
As the anniversary of his death approaches, this is clearly a family still trying to work out how to live their lives without him.
“It just gets harder,” said mum Natalie.
“Because the reality of having to get up every day and live without Callum has really set in.
“How do we get up every day knowing our son isn’t here?”
The night of the crash is still vivid in Natalie’s mind.
There are memories of the family driving the 15-minute journey to the scene, after receiving a phone call from a friend who lived nearby.
“She told me the car was in half and I just remember praying, all the way to Coedely,” she said.
“Just praying ‘let Callum be OK – just let him be OK’.”
Although they were told at the scene Callum had died, Natalie said she did not take it in until later.
“Our world just crumbled,” she said.
“I do feel when we lost Callum we lost a part of ourselves – I am not the person I used to be, my husband is not the same person.
“There is a huge void that will never, ever be filled.”
Last month, an inquest into the three teenagers’ deaths found that the car lost control and hit a bus after travelling at around 50mph (80km/h) into a bend.
The family have not yet decided how they will mark the anniversary, but held a party for Callum, who would have turned 20 on 2 November.
Natalie GriffithsSiblings Erin and Callum were very close, with Erin calling him her “best friend and biggest protector”.
The 16-year-old, just 15 when her brother died, said the party has been an important focus and, she admits, a distraction.
“Instead of thinking that Callum is not here for his birthday, we have this big celebration,” she said.
Natalie GriffithsAnother focus for Natalie has been as a member of a group of grieving families, called Forget Me Not Families Uniting.
They are campaigning for changes to the law on new drivers.
A graduated driver’s licence could see a limit on the number of passengers young people are allowed to carry, which is a “no brainer”, Natalie believes.
But last month, the UK government appeared to rule this out, saying it was not considering any changes.
That is despite a petition set up by another mother whose son died in Wales, reaching around 25,000 signatures.
“It’s very frustrating,” said Natalie.
“And more so knowing I have got a child who is coming up to driving age, who is now put off from wanting to learn to drive because she is so aware of the dangers.”
Erin said her friends support the proposed changes and she hopes the tragic circumstances of her brother’s death will make people drive more cautiously.
“We never expected this to happen to Callum, you never know who it is going to happen to – it is always playing on my mind,” she said.
To those who say any changes could impinge the freedoms of young people, Natalie has a simple and direct answer.
She said: “The biggest limit of all has been placed on Callum because he has no life to live any longer.
“The greatest legacy we can leave for Callum is to try and make some change. “
government pledges £3.5m cash to prevent homelessness
The government is spending an extra £3.5m on support for military veterans facing homelessness.
The cash will fund mental health support and help with employment and independent living. It will fund services this Christmas and into 2026.
It follows Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge at Labour party conference that all veterans would be “a guaranteed roof over their head”.
On Wednesday Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner announced £10m of funding to protect rough sleepers from cold weather this winter.
In the Budget last week, the government committed to an extra £233m of spending next year to prevent homelessness, bringing the total to £1bn.
The £3.5m will go towards the Reducing Veteran Homelessness programme, which aims to reduce rough sleeping by veterans.
The cash will also fund the Op Fortitude helpline, a referral service to help former service people find housing support.
Both services were set up under former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as part of a pledge by Conservative ministers to end rough sleeping by veterans by the end of 2023.
Official figures show that in the first three months of 2024, 650 households in England entitled to accommodation to prevent them from becoming homeless included someone who had served in the armed forces.
Sir Keir said: “Veterans represent the very best of our country, and we must honour their sacrifices.
“When I came into office, I promised that I would serve our heroes as they have served us.
“That is the least they deserve given the sacrifices they have made, and it is why this government is ensuring homes will be there for heroes across the UK.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said that his party wanted “higher standards of housing for soldiers as well as veterans”.
The government have also confirmed they will fulfil a manifesto pledge and put the Armed Forces Covenant fully into law.
The covenant is a promise to treat those who have served with fairness and respect.
It follows the government saying they will establish an armed forces commissioner in the King’s Speech.
The prime minister met veterans and charities at Downing Street on Friday to hear about their experiences ahead of Remembrance Sunday.
Defence Secretary John Healey and Veterans’ Minister Alistair Carns will also be in attendance.
Sir Keir will join former prime ministers, defence chiefs and new Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch on Sunday to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph in central London.
The prime minister promised back in September to allow veterans to get onto social hosing lists more easily.
The government’s “homes for heroes” scheme will exempt veterans from local connection tests, which most councils use to decide who can qualify for social housing.
At the time, Sir Keir said that “in every town and city in this country. People who were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, who put their lives on the line to protect us all, but who will not have a safe place to sleep tonight”.
“We cannot stand by and let this happen anymore.”
Young care leavers and domestic abuse victims will also be exempted from the tests.
The government still needs to legislate for the changes.
New Paddington in Peru film ‘charming’ but ‘slow’, critics say
StudioCanalThe much-anticipated new Paddington in Peru film has had mixed reviews over its opening weekend, with critics calling it “charming-enough”, but some agreeing the film struggles to reach the heights of its predecessors.
The third instalment in the Paddington live action adventure franchise sees the marmalade sandwich munching bear return to Peru to visit his aunt Lucy.
The film, that includes a return of much loved cast members including Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer and Hugh Bonneville, opened in UK cinemas on Friday 8 November.
Since the beginning of the film series in 2014, Paddington Bear has grown to become a national treasure with fans of all ages through its heart-warming appeal.
Of the latest film, Peter Bradshaw wrote in the Guardian that the experience was “just as jolly as the previous two films, but not really as funny” and likened it to a “special episode of a TV sitcom that takes the cast to the Costa del Sol”.
In the Hollywood Reporter, Leslie Felperin wrote that while the film “lacks the absurdist wit and decidedly dark edge that elevated the first two Paddington movies”, it was “serviceable enough given its limitations”.
Nick Curtis was more cutting with his two star review in the Standard, saying Paddington in Peru “misses the easy charm, the fluency and the icy sliver of jeopardy” from the first two movies “which had genuine cross-generational appeal”.
He added the pacing felt “ponderous and slow”.
ReutersThe Telegraph’s Tim Robey was one of many critics to give Paddington in Peru a three-star rating, praising the addition of new characters portrayed by Hollywood heavyweights Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas, calling them “assets” to the film, albeit not matching the previous “scene-stealing” from Hugh Grant.
Nick de Semlyen also agreed, writing in Empire: “Colman is perfect casting as sinister sister Reverend Mother, overseer of the Home For Retired Bears.
“Whether riffing on The Sound Of Music, strumming irritatingly on a guitar, or struggling to keep a phony smile plastered across her face, Colman is great fun, though a little underused. Antonio Banderas, meanwhile, goes full Kind Hearts And Coronets, playing not just a boat captain with a secret, but his many descendants.”
Speaking in an interview with BBC Radio 1, Whishaw, who has voiced the character of Paddington in all three movies, said “I think they are beautiful films made with such care and love.
“A good film is a good film and they are hard to make, so I feel very proud of them and very proud to be associated in this way with this character.”
StudioCanalThe director of the first two Paddington films, Paul King, has since moved on to new projects including Wonka, starring Timothee Chalamet, but he is credited with writing this latest story alongside Simon Farnaby and Mark Burton.
Clarisse Loughrey gave the film three stars in the Independent, calling Paddington in Peru “the worst in the franchise” but praised the production design, which takes full advantage of moving the cast away from the cosy comforts of London, and making “every interior look like an untouched escape room with secrets hidden under every trinket”.
Leila Latif of Total Film gave Paddington in Peru four stars, saying “despite the title, the film feels distinctly un-Peruvian”.
She added: “There are no Peruvian characters (unless you count the bears) and while the film alludes to the previous horrors of plundering Spanish colonizers in a surprisingly brutal montage, it’s still an uneasy shift that there is more screen presence from people of colour in London than there is in South America.”
Away from the big screen, a new Paddington musical is being developed for the stage, with McFly’s Tom Fletcher set to write the music and lyrics.
On November 7 the cast of the upcoming film unveiled special livery on a Great Western Railway (GWR) train that will travel through Devon and Cornwall.
Football Daily
Liverpool go five points clear at the top of the Premier League – are they title-bound?
Source link