THE snooker roadshow rolls into Leicester as the Championship League comes to a conclusion this week!
A guaranteed spot in the Champion of Champions is up for the winner, plus prize money that includes cash for every frame won.
After seven rounds of group play, the Winners’ Group gets underway TODAY, with the likes of Kyren Wilson and Judd Trump in action.
After playing six group matches each, the top four snooker stars will then meet in a semi-final and final both on Wednesday evening.
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IF you’re worried about rising costs and are looking for ways to save cash this season, you’ve come to the right place.
It turns out that many of us are making a few very popular mistakes, which are raking up our annual energy bills.
So if you fancy pocketing some extra pounds, you’ll need to take notes.
According to the experts at EDF Energy, there are four very simple ways you can lower your heating bills, with barely any faff or effort involved.
Not only this, but one thermostat secret will instantly save you £80 – yes, you heard that correctly.
So if you want to take control of your energy and save cash on your gas bill this winter, you’ll need to take notes.
According to the pros at EDF, the first thing you need to do is turn your thermostat down.
Whilst it almost sounds too simple, a recent study showed that 2.7 million households in the UK are turning their thermostats all the way to 25°C.
If everyone in the country lowered their thermostats, it could add up to a combined saving of £1.4 billion on heating bills, not to mention a huge amount of carbon.
Subsequently, the experts advise the ideal temperature to be somewhere between 18°C and 21°C.
But prepare to be impressed, as the general principle is that for every degree you turn your heating down, you could save around £80 a year – yes, you heard that correctly.
Not only should you turn your thermostat down, but it’s also important that you only heat your home when it needs heating too.
We’ve all heard the theory that it’s cheaper to leave the heating on all day at a low temperature, but the results are in and according to those at EDF, it’s a very common myth.
It turns out that having the heating on only when you need it is the best way to save energy, so it’s important that you set a timer or use the programme function on your thermostat, so you can set up a schedule that works around your day.
Property expert Joshua Houston shared his tips.
1. Curtains
“Windows are a common place for the outside cold to get into your home, this is because of small gaps that can let in air so always close your curtains as soon as it gets dark,” he said.
This simple method gives you an extra layer of warmth as it can provide a kind of “insulation” between your window and curtain.
2. Rugs
“Your floor is another area of your home where heat can be lost and can make your home feel chilly,” he continued. “You might notice on cold days, that your floor is not nice to walk on due to it freezing your feet.
“Add rugs to areas that don’t already have a carpet, this provides a layer of insulation between your bare floor and the room above.”
3. Check your insulation
Check your pipes, loft space, crawlspaces and underneath floorboards.
“Loose-fill insulation is very good for this, and is a more affordable type of insulation, with a big bag being able to be picked up for around £30,” Joshua explained.
4. Keep your internal doors closed
“Household members often gather in one room in the evening, and this is usually either the kitchen or living room,” Joshua said.
“This means you only have to heat a small area of your home, and closing the doors keeps the heat in and the cold out.”
5. Block drafts
Don’t forget to check cat flaps, chimneys and letterboxes, as they can let in cold air if they aren’t secure.
Whilst you might also be tempted to crank the thermostat right up to warm your house quicker, that’s also another heating myth.
The pros claimed that turning your thermostat up doesn’t change the temperature of the water flowing through your radiators and instead just means the thermostat won’t turn your boiler off until it reaches a higher temperature.
As a result, the experts claimed: “Your heating will simply stay on for longer, using more gas and costing you more money.”
As well as this, according to the experts at EDF, it’s important that once you’ve warmed up your home, it’s essential you keep it that way.
The pros advised: “Draught-proofing plugs the gaps in your property to help keep warm air in and cold air out.
“If there’s cold air coming in under your front door, a rolled up towel or blanket will do the trick.”
Not only this, but keeping draughts out through your letterbox is also key and even covering a small key hole will help too.
Again, it may seem simple, but the experts have shared an incredibly easy way to cut down your gas bill – and it’s to avoid heating rooms you aren’t using.
So if you’ve got a spare room you barely ever go in, why waste energy heating it?
The experts stressed the importance of turning radiators down (or off completely), which will mean you use less energy heating a room you rarely use (and more cash in your pocket as a result).
MARTIN Lewis' MoneySavingExpert shared six gadgets that can help you keep the heating off but stay warm.
Heating “the human not the home” means you warm yourself instead of turning on the heating and heating the whole house.
This can save money on your heating bill and means you don’t have to sit in the cold.
LUCY Letby’s legal team have made a new bid against her convictions claiming her original case was a “miscarriage of justice”.
The killer nurse is serving 15 whole-life orders for murdering seven babies in a year-long reign of terror.
Letby, 34, also tried to kill seven others – including one baby twice – at Countess of Chester Hospital.
Today, a “blue riband committee” of 14 neonatalogists will present”new medical evidence” at a press conference in London.
Lawyers for Letby have now submitted an application to the independent Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) citing a miscarriage of justice.
The CCRC will now investigate whether the case should be sent to the Court of Appeal.
A spokesperson said: “We are aware that there has been a great deal of speculation and commentary surrounding Lucy Letby’s case, much of it from parties with only a partial view of the evidence.
“We ask that everyone remembers the families affected by events at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
“We have received a preliminary application in relation to Ms Letby’s case, and work has begun to assess the application. We anticipate further submissions being made to us.
“It is not for the CCRC to determine innocence or guilt in a case, that’s a matter for the courts.
“It is for the CCRC to find, investigate and if appropriate, refer potential miscarriages of justice to the appellate courts when new evidence or new argument means there is a real possibility that a conviction will not be upheld, or a sentence reduced.”
The CCRC said it is “not possible” to give a timeframe over how long the probe will take.
Among those on today’s panel are retired medic Dr Shoo Lee, who co-authored a 1989 academic paper on air embolism in babies, which featured prominently in Letby’s trial.
His work was used to support the theory that the nurse killed some of the children by injecting them with air.
Dr Lee has previously claimed his findings on skin discolouration was “misrepresented” in court and that the evidence “wasn’t quite right”.
He said he recently updated his academic paper and found no cases of skin discolouration linked to air embolism by the venous system, as was said during the trial.
It is also understood the expert panel found alternative causes of death for a “large number” of the babies who featured in the trial.
Tory former minister Sir David Davis is chairing the panel, while the nurse’s barrister, Mark McDonald, is also present.
Sir David, the MP for Goole and Pocklington, wants a retrial for Letby and said he believes it will clear her of any wrongdoing.
Mr McDonald also separately wants to seek permission from the Court of Appeal to apply to re-open her case on the grounds that Dr Dewi Evans, the lead prosecution medical expert at her trial, was “not reliable”.
Retired consultant paediatrician Dr Evans said concerns regarding his evidence were “unsubstantiated, unfounded, inaccurate”.
Letby has so far lost two bids to appeal against her convictions.
Her latest in October was over her most recent conviction for the attempted murder of a baby girl.
The killer declared “I’m innocent” as she was handed another life order in July after the retrial.
Jurors heard how she tried to kill Baby K by dislodging her breathing tube less than two hours after she was born.
Baby K was transported to Arrowe Park Hospital and sadly died three days later – although prosecutors do not believe the nurse caused her death.
Letby became only the fourth woman ever to be handed whole life tariff after Rose West, Joanna Dennehy and Myra Hindley when she was sentenced.
She was originally convicted of seven counts of murder in August last year following a nine-month trial and 22 days of jury deliberation.
Jurors heard she used insulin and air to inject newborns while working on the neo-natal ward.
The collapses and deaths of the children were not “naturally-occurring tragedies” and instead the gruesome work of “poisoner” Letby, prosecutors argued.
Her rampage was finally uncovered after staff grew suspicious of the “significant rise” in the number of babies dying or suffering “catastrophic” collapses.
Child A, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby injected air intravenously into the bloodstream of the baby boy. COUNT 1 GUILTY.
Child B, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby attempted to murder the baby girl, the twin sister of Child A, by injecting air into her bloodstream. COUNT 2 GUILTY.
Child C, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said Letby forced air down a feeding tube and into the stomach of the baby boy. COUNT 3 GUILTY.
Child D, allegation of murder. The Crown said air was injected intravenously into the baby girl. COUNT 4 GUILTY.
Child E, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby murdered the twin baby boy with an injection of air into the bloodstream and also deliberately caused bleeding to the infant. COUNT 5 GUILTY.
Child F, allegation of attempted murder. Letby was said by prosecutors to have poisoned the twin brother of Child E with insulin. COUNT 6 GUILTY.
Child G, three allegations of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby targeted the baby girl by overfeeding her with milk and pushing air down her feeding tube. COUNT 7 GUILTY, COUNT 8 GUILTY, COUNT 9 NOT GUILTY.
Child H, two allegations of attempted murder. Prosecutors said Letby sabotaged the care of the baby girl in some way which led to two profound oxygen desaturations. COUNT 10 NOT GUILTY, COUNT 11 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child I, allegation of murder. The prosecution said Letby killed the baby girl at the fourth attempt and had given her air and overfed her with milk. COUNT 12 GUILTY.
Child J, allegation of attempted murder. No specific form of harm was identified by the prosecution but they said Letby did something to cause the collapse of the baby girl. COUNT 13 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child K, allegation of attempted murder. The prosecution said Letby compromised the baby girl as she deliberately dislodged a breathing tube. COUNT 14 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT AT ORIGINAL TRIAL, GUILTY AFTER RETRIAL
Child L, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said the nurse poisoned the twin baby boy with insulin. COUNT 15 GUILTY.
Child M, allegation of attempted murder. Prosecutors said Letby injected air into the bloodstream of Child L’s twin brother. COUNT 16 GUILTY.
Child N, three allegations of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby inflicted trauma in the baby boy’s throat and also injected him with air in the bloodstream. COUNT 17 GUILTY, COUNT 18 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT, COUNT 19 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child O, allegation of murder. Prosecutors say Letby attacked the triplet boy by injecting him with air, overfeeding him with milk and inflicting trauma to his liver with “severe force”. COUNT 20 GUILTY.
Child P, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said the nurse targeted the triplet brother of Child O by overfeeding him with milk, injecting air and dislodging his breathing tube. COUNT 21 GUILTY.
Child Q, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby injected the baby boy with liquid, and possibly air, down his feeding tube. COUNT 22 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Letby was found to be the “common denominator” among the horrifying incidents.
A public inquiry into how Letby was able to commit her crimes began in September, with closing legal submissions expected in March.
The findings of Lady Justice Thirlwall are expected to be published this autumn.
A probe into whether Letby harmed any other babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital is ongoing.
Letby has been interviewed at HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey, under caution in relation to the ongoing investigation.
JAMISON GIBSON-PARK knows Scotland would love to knock Ireland off their perch to establish their own title credentials.
But the scrum-half insisted having a target on their backs is nothing new.
Ireland have not lost to Scotland since the hosts beat them 27-22 at Murrayfield in 2017, a defeat then-coach Joe Schmidt blamed, in part, on the late arrival of the team bus.
No 2-ranked Ireland have switched coaches since with Andy Farrell replacing Schmidt after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Simon Easterby is now in interim charge while the Englishman focuses on the Lions.
But — having overseen that victory in his first game in charge — Scotland supremo Gregor Townsend has suffered ten straight defeats against Ireland.
And Gibson-Park accepts the Scot and his players will be keen to change the record.
The scrum-half said: “That’s the case for a lot of teams now. We’ve kind of been near enough to the top of the rankings for a while.
“I know myself that if I’m coming up against a quality side you want to put your best performance out there. Next week will be no different.”
Scotland view themselves as potential champions and the Leinster star agreed: “One hundred per cent. They’re a classy side.
“They’re playing good footie and they’re stacked full of really good individuals, so it will be a tough challenge. I know it’s been a long time since they won but there’s no reason they can’t.
“But what a place to go and what an opportunity for us to go there and have a crack at them.”
Gibson-Park made his mark in Ireland’s opener against England with his performance earning him the player-of-the-match award, as he linked up with fellow New Zealand import James Lowe — who had just returned from injury — particularly well.
And the 32-year-old took satisfaction from the way in which Ireland bounced back after a subdued first-half display to collect a bonus-point victory. He said: “Things might not be going our way, but we just have to be process-driven.
“We were reeling a little bit in the first half but to be able to swing it around in the second half and play some good footie, I think, pleasing. Long may it continue.
“Just a few bits of accuracy were costing us as well as good pressure from England. We didn’t have to change a whole lot.
“It was just a few passes stuck a bit better in the second half and we were able to get into some nice shape with some nice tries being scored.
“We were all a bit frustrated after November. We obviously won three out of four games but we didn’t feel as though we got much going.
“The second half was pleasing. There’s still loads to work on. We probably should have scored more points in the first half but plenty to look at next week.
“James hasn’t played a lot of footie so that’s pretty awesome to come out on the big occasion and have a game like that. Fair dues to him.”
Although replacement Jack Crowley probably emerged better from the match than Sam Prendergast, who started, Gibson-Park is a big fan of the 21-year-old.
He said: “You’ve got a serious player on your hands. I thoroughly enjoy playing with him. He’s so calm under pressure. The first half wasn’t really going our way but we were able to swing things around.
“He’s a serious operator. He’s been very lucky to be able to come through the system and he’s trained against some quality teams in Leinster. When he wasn’t playing, he was able to train and we saw his game developing, which is the sign of a quality player.”
Along with Crowley, fellow replacements Dan Sheehan and Jack Conan made a big impact off the bench.
And Gibson-Park said: “It’s awesome, isn’t it? You get a massive lift. Seeing Sheeno and Jack on the bench you know we’re going to be finishing the game well.”
A MUM has been accused of “borderline abuse” due to the unique name she’s chosen for her newborn daughter.
Singer and actress Rydel Funk took to her Instagram page to announce the happy arrival of her gorgeous baby girl, as well as using the post to reveal her name.
The accompanying image showed the baby asleep and laying next to a wooden plaque that read “Sugar”, with Rydel revealing her full name is Sugar Lover Funk.
“Sugar Lover Girl is what my daddy has called me my entire life,” she explained in the caption.
“So basically he named her, haha!
“Passing on my nickname to my baby Sugar!”
Rydel – the sister of Disney star Ross Lynch – also has three older children, who are named Super, Sweetie and Storm.
And in the comments section on the Instagram post, people didn’t hold back as they revealed their true thoughts about Rydel’s name choice for her newborn.
“Do people realise these kids will have to walk into their jobs one day saying ‘hey my name is sugar lover funk’?” one asked.
“These are real humans, not pets or dolls!”
“It’s cute but likeeee she’s not a puppy,” another raged.
“This is borderline abuse,” a third insisted.
“Imagine seeing Sugar Lover Funk on an application. They’re never gonna be taken seriously!” someone else warned.
“These names are child abuse,” another argued.
“You know you’re naming future adults right?” someone else questioned.
Her name sounds like a stripper’s!
Instagram commenter
“You just wait until your baby girl comes home from school everyday crying because kids and teachers are making fun of her name,” another sighed.
“It’s a cruel world and even more so now.”
“Some people just shouldn’t be allowed to name babies,” someone else insisted.
YOU may think having a unique name helps you to stand out, but is it all it's cracked up to be?
Fabulous’ Deputy Editor Josie Griffiths reveals the turmoil she faced with her own name while growing up.
When I was a child, all I wanted was one of those personalised keyrings with my name on it.
But no joy, the closest I could find was Rosie, Joseph (not great for a little girl) and Joanne.
Josie is short for Josephine, which is a French name, and I managed to reach my 20s without ever meeting anyone who shared it.
When I try to introduce myself to people, I get all sorts of random things – like Tracey and Stacey – which can be pretty annoying.
Although I have come into contact with a couple of Josies over the last year – there seems to be a few of us around my age – it’s still a much rarer name than most of my friends have.
On the whole I don’t mind it, at least it’s not rude or crazily spelt.
And it means I can get away with ‘doing a Cheryl’ and just referring to myself as Josie.
I’m getting married this year and some friends are shocked that I’m changing my surname, as it’s not seen as very cool or feminist to do so these days, but I explain to them that I’m not that attached to Griffiths as I’d always just say ‘hi it’s Josie’ when ringing a mate up.
I think it’s nice to be unique and I’ll definitely try and replicate this when naming my own kids.
It’s the rude names you’ve got to watch out for, so after nine years as a lifestyle journalist I’ll definitely be avoiding those.
“Because wtf is sugar lover?”
“I must say I find all of the names tragic but Sugar and then her middle name Sugar Lover?” another slammed.
“She’s gonna grow up and the first thing she’s going to do is change her name sounds like a stripper…”
Not everyone had the same thoughts about the name though, with others insisting the moniker is “beautiful”.
“Aww she is so cute and I like the name,” one wrote.
“Oh I adore her name!! Congratulations!!!” another added.
“Why are y’all commenting about the names she chooses for HER children????” a third questioned.
“I understand the opinions and such when they are older, but again, they are HER kids, not yours!”
“Wow, the negativity on this post. Not your family so why does everyone care what they name their babies?” someone else said.
“Don’t have anything nice to say keep scrolling. Easy as that!”
SNOOKER legend Ray Reardon, who died last year, has left nearly half a million pounds to his wife.
Reardon, a former Welsh miner, won the World Snooker title a total of six times during the 1970s when he dominated the sport.
He was one of the game’s most popular and charismatic players, known as ‘Dracula’ due to his distinctive hairstyle.
It has been revealed that the 91-year-old left £401,000 in his will to partner, Carol.
Fellow snooker great Ronnie O’Sullivan credited Reardon for transforming his game after the veteran took The Rocket under his wing and offered to mentor him.
Ronnie said: “I knew I needed something you know and I kind of felt my game was good but I was always thirsty to see if somebody could make me in to a better player.
“Ray Reardon was that guy and my dad made that phone call and within 24 hours of making a phone call, Ray was up in Sheffield, we met and from then on we had this unbelievable relationship.”
Following his death last year legendary player Jimmy White, said: “Gutted to hear my very good friend Ray Reardon has passed away. A total class act and very kind to me when I was making my way in the game. A giant of the game. Rest in Peace mate.”
The six-time world snooker champion died after a battle with cancer.
Tributes poured in for the Welshman who became the first player to be ranked world number one when rankings were introduced in 1976.
He held the top spot for five years before gaining it back after just a year in 1982.
Aged 45, he also held the record for the oldest winner of the championships after winning in 1978.
