Tmara Senior

Delta Goodrem upcoming international Hearts on the Run tour is turning into a blockbuster.

The disco diva and singer-songwriter, 82, on forming her first gospel trio, her five husbands and correspondence with Elvis

I was born in Alabama. My mother was displeased with my father’s behaviour. We called him “the weekend alcoholic”. He’d work all week, but on the weekend he’d take all his money, get drunk and gamble it away.

When I was 10, my mother took my younger brother, my older sister and me on the bus to Cleveland, where we met Bishop Mattie Lou Jewell, a very rich, very tall Black woman who oversaw 30 churches and ran a school. To entertain ourselves, my sister and I would harmonise little songs. Bishop Jewell overheard us and said: “My church has a contest every Tuesday night.” We tore the place up.

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Dame Emma Thompson on her 'brave' sexy new role in new film Good Luck To You, Leo Grande.

The girl group have been releasing music for less than a year, and already have Brit and BBC Sound Of awards to their name. They discuss TikTok fame, fighting for their success and being ‘bigger than periods’

Flo arrive at the central London restaurant where our interview is taking place, in this order: first comes 21-year-old Stella Quaresma, arriving before we’ve been shown to our table; then Renée Downer, aged 20, once we’ve been seated but before drinks are ordered; and finally Jorja Douglas, 20, who announces that “the label don’t know how to book a cab!” as she sits down with just enough time to skim the menu and request a cacao smoothie. Their staggered entrances makes the difference between a group of girls and a girl group all the more perceptible; with the important business of what to have for lunch taken care of, the trio shift into a different gear, synchronising as a unit, transforming into Flo.

Barely a year ago, these young women were pretty much anonymous. But then came the release of their debut single Cardboard Box in March 2022. Since then they have clocked more than 35m streams, in excess of half a million followers on social media, sparked a viral TikTok dance trend and impressed audiences with performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Later … With Jools Holland. They open 2023 with the Brits’ rising star award under their belts, and as the first girl group to win the influential BBC Sound Of poll.

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All of the hip hop trio's early hits will be released on digital streaming services from 3 March.

After forming a choir of 100,000 people and collaborating with everyone from Stormzy to Coldplay, what will the jazz prodigy do next? Spend some time with his mum

“One hundred thousand voices all singing together in harmony – that’s what gets me excited,” Jacob Collier says. “It’s an anthem that has become the soundtrack to my life.”

Seventy dates into his year‑long world tour, the 28-year-old British multi-instrumentalist is surrounded by song. Each night, Collier sits behind the piano and begins playing an undecided and unrehearsed cover to his audience of thousands. He feels his way around the keys without knowing where he will land, eventually settling on a pop standard such as the Bee Gees’ How Deep Is Your Love or Abba’s Dancing Queen and conducting the crowd with his hands in a multilayered choral singalong that ends his two-hour shows.

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Even at the height of his fame, the singer called on God to calm his stage nerves, his stepbrother reveals in a new biography

While his fans worshipped him as a rock’n’roll deity, Elvis Presley would say a prayer before going on stage, reading the Bible and looking to God for guidance in everything he did, his stepbrother has recalled.

“When we saw him bow his head, then we knew,” Billy Stanley, who also worked for the singer, told the Observer, noting that Presley did not recite the prayer aloud. “It was probably about 15 seconds long. I asked him once, ‘Why do you say the prayer before?’ He said: ‘It kind of settles my nerves but also I want God to help bless this concert, so make it a good one.’ He always turned to God whenever he needed help.”

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Eminem's daughter Hailie Jade has launched her own podcast - Just a Little Shady - which sees her reflect about her life growing up with her famous father

The singer-songwriter on picking her nose, trusting the wrong men and why she loved the first Covid lockdown

Born in Cardiff, Charlotte Church, 36, found fame in 1997, at 11, after she sang Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Pie Jesu over the phone on ITV’s This Morning. The following year, she became the youngest artist to top the classical chart with her debut album, Voice of an Angel. In 2005, she released her first pop album, Tissues and Issues. On 23 July, her Late Night Pop Dungeon is at Kaleidoscope festival at Alexandra Palace in London. She is married with three children and lives in south Wales.

When were you happiest?
In the first lockdown. Obviously, there was terrible grief and sadness and fear around, but there was also this reclaiming for nature. I was constantly at my allotment with the big kids and my husband.

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Shawn Mendes announced that he would be postponing several of his upcoming tour dates with a lengthy post that was shared to his Instagram account on Friday.

Beth McDonald remembers watching a clock on the wall, counting down the hours until she felt she would be able to escape her rapist.

The singer on her weakness for fancy handbags, her crush on David Olusoga and working with Jennifer Saunders

Born in Wolverhampton, Beverley Knight, 49, had her first UK Top 10 hit with the album Who I Am, which was nominated for the 2002 Mercury prize. In 2013, she made her West End debut starring in The Bodyguard, and has since been Olivier nominated twice. From 19 July to 28 August, she will be appearing in Sister Act: the Musical at Eventim Apollo, London. She is married and lives in London.

What is your earliest memory?
Listening to the radio and hearing Stevie Wonder singing Sir Duke. I must have been about three.

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Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has accused the government of "using its might" to "bully" and "silence" disabled campaigners in the courts.

Thousands of the most vulnerable and troubled children in England have been lost in the education system because there is not enough specialist provision to look after them - with many high-risk kids being out of school for nearly two years.

The Angels singer reflects on his 30-year career ahead of a homecoming gig in Stoke-on-Trent.

Joss Stone spoke candidly about moving to Nashville, having a miscarriage and her values as a mother during an interview on the Sweat, Snot and Tears podcast with Annie O'Leary and Wendy Golledge

London mum Afia Choudhury, who has four biological sons, said her foster children still regularly visit and stay over in the holidays - adding they are like "siblings" to her sons

The Drivers License singer reflects on turning her first big breakup into the year’s biggest hit – and how songwriting saved her from the anxieties of being a Disney star

Do you remember your first heartbreak? If not, 18-year-old Olivia Rodrigo’s debut single, Drivers License, may awaken some dusty memories. The story of passing her test and driving past the house of the ex she had planned to celebrate with, it filters Adele-scale devastation through Taylor Swift’s wit and Lorde’s mysticism, balancing hangdog self-pity (“I’ve never felt this way for no one!”) with stinging indignation: “Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me!” she belts at its climax. Perhaps being called out as a phoney songwriter is even worse than being a cad.

Released in January, Drivers License sprang (almost) out of nowhere like a heaved sob. Four days later, it broke Spotify records for the most single-day streams (Christmas songs exempted). The next day, it broke that record again. After 10 weeks at No 1 in the US and nine in the UK, it has been streamed 1.9bn times. Next Tuesday, the California-born songwriter makes her live debut at the Brits; the following weekend, she does Saturday Night Live; a week later she releases her debut album, Sour, a grippingly well written – all by her – collection of balladry, pop-punk, bitter diatribes and euphoric taunts that dwells on this romantic treachery. Even in an era when virality powers pop, Rodrigo’s is a fast rise.

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The charity Birthrights conducted a year-long investigation into "racial injustice" in maternity care.

Sam Ryder's song Space Man gave the UK its first top 10 result since 2009. What went right?

The reaction, a cell death known as pyroptosis which is linked to inflammation, is thought to occur in roughly eight out of ten patients hospitalised with Covid.

Parents who have lost babies during birth and pregnancy due to alleged failures by NHS trusts are calling for a new national review of maternity services after a series of scandals.

As details emerged this week of the death of baby Giles Cooper-Hall at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, those who have experienced similar tragedies said something must now be done nationally so other families are not faced with same heartbreaking circumstances.

“One death is one death too many” Rosalind Levine told i.

“We don’t need to have 15 or 20 before they make changes.”

It comes after the Ockenden Review found “repeated failures” occurred at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust maternity services and now Nottingham University Hospitals maternity services are the subject of an independent review.

‘I wanted them to put their hand up and say we made a mistake and we are sorry’

Warning: This article contains an image that some may find upsetting

Ms Levine, from Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, went through five rounds of IVF before she eventually conceived a much-longed-for first child on her sixth round in 2011.

During her pregnancy, she suspected she had gestational diabetes and said she raised the issue at the midwife-led Edgware Birth Centre on a number of occasions but it remained undiagnosed and untreated.

She was 11 days overdue when she went into labour on 14 April 2012.

Worried about the lack of movement from their daughter, Ms Levine and her partner Maxie Allen made seven calls to the birth centre.

“They said don’t worry about it, babies don’t move much during labour”, she said.

When the couple went to the birth centre, a scan revealed there was no longer a heartbeat for their baby.

Ms Levine was then sent to Barnet Hospital, where Alexandra was stillborn on 15 April 2012.

After giving birth, Ms Levine said blood tests revealed she was diabetic which she said puts mothers at greater risk of stillbirth.

“Unfortunately, they did not diagnose me with diabetes or tell me to go to the hospital when I said there was no movement,” she said.

The family took legal proceedings against the hospital trust and a settlement was reached.

“I wanted them to put their hand up and say we made a mistake and we are sorry,” Ms Levine said. “There’s no accountability with stillbirths.”

The television producer, 43, said it made her “feel sick” to discover other parents had lived through similar experiences after the publication of the Ockenden report.

“Nobody is joining the dots, nobody is looking at the whole picture,” she said.

A spokesperson for the Royal Free London said: “We would like to offer Rosalind Levine and her family our deepest condolences and to once again apologise for the care provided to her and her daughter Alexandra at Edgware birth centre.”

‘I can’t help what happened to my daughter but I hope her legacy can help other babies live’

Lianne Alizadeh, whose baby daughter Aaliyah died 26 weeks and five days into pregnancy, said differences in maternity care across the country mean expecting mothers face “a postcode lottery” of care.

The medical student and her husband Mohamed, from South London, had been expecting twins but lost one of the babies at 10 weeks. By about 20 weeks, Ms Alizadeh “was experiencing reduced movement”, from her second twin.

For weeks, she said she was in and out of triage at her hospital, raising concerns about her baby’s lack of movement, but said she was sent home without being scanned.

After a CTG to measure the baby’s heartbeat in July 2021, she was told everything was fine but when she woke the next day she couldn’t feel her baby move.

The 31-year-old returned to the hospital where she said she finally had a scan and was told her baby’s heart had stopped.

After that, she said: “I was left in a room on my own for 12 hours because I was no longer a priority.”

Her daughter Aaliyah was stillborn on 10 July at 4.30pm.

Legal proceedings are currently ongoing between the family and the hospital trust involved.

Ms Alizadeh has founded the charity Aaliyah’s Angel Army, which raises funds to provide private scans to prospective parents who have concerns about their baby.

“I can’t help what happened to my daughter but if her legacy can help other babies live then that is good”, she said.

As part of her charity work she said she has been contacted by women nationwide who have said “this is happening to me”.

“I think there needs to be a nationwide review not just local inquiries”, she said, “For me one death is too many.”

One of the problems she highlighted was a piecemeal approach to maternity services, with NHS guideline all trusts must follow and then recommendations which trusts can choose to adopt or not.

“It’s very much a postcode lottery,” she said “We have fatal outcomes because they [the hospital trusts] are all on different pages.”

‘There’s an awful lot of learning from these deaths, which we are just not doing’

Michelle Hemmington had a “normal, healthy pregnancy” and went into labour at 41 weeks. “Really from that point on the mistakes were made,” she said.

She arrived at Northampton General Hospital around 9am on 17 May 2011 and said she was told the unit was very busy and so was placed in a bath initially.

Then she was moved to triage, where she said she spent five and half hours of her labour without being seen or given pain relief until her sister raised the alarm.

“When I was examined, I was 8cm dilated and that’s when I was taken to the labour ward,” she said. A heart monitor was attached to her unborn baby because she said he was becoming distressed.

“The heart rate didn’t seem right to me but I was told not to worry,” Ms Hemmington said. Just after 11pm, she was given an episiotomy and Louie was born at 11.12pm.

“We were told he would need a bit of oxygen,” she said. “He was on the resuscitaire [incubator] behind a curtain for 30 minutes.

“Then this man appeared from behind the curtain and said I’m sorry your son is dead.”

The family had to register Louie as stillborn, which Ms Hemmington disputes. “There must have been signs of life for them to try to resuscitate,” she said.

A serious incident report compiled by the hospital highlighted 19 separate failings in Ms Hemmington’s case but it took four and a half years of litigation before the trust admitted negligence leading to the death of Louie.

In 2013, the education officer, 44, co-founded the Campaign for Safer Births with another parent Nicky Lyon, whose son Harry suffered brain damage because of a lack of oxygen during birth.

They work to raise awareness of birth injuries and stillbirths, campaign for improvements in maternity services and call for inquests for stillbirths.

“At the moment, these baby deaths are completely hidden, with inquests it is in the public domain and on public record,” Ms Hemmington said.

Northampton General Hospital’s Medical Director, Matt Metcalfe, said: “We recognise mistakes were made in the maternity care of Ms Hemmington in 2011 and we again offer our deepest apologies and sincere condolences for the loss of baby Louie.

“Since Louie’s death in 2011 we have made significant improvements to maternity services based on an expert review and we now include a clinician from an external organisation as part of our maternity investigation procedure into serious incidents.”

More on Maternity Services

Donna Ockenden says she would be 'very pleased' to take over Nottingham maternity review08 April, 2022Families who lost babies in Nottingham maternity scandal call for Donna Ockenden to take over07 April, 2022Opinion | The difficult truth about the NHS maternity scandal05 April, 2022

A private members bill has passed through Parliament for coroner’s inquests to be extended to stillbirths but progress has stalled since the pandemic.

Having an inquest would mean a coroner is more likely to spot trends in baby deaths for a certain trust and could make recommendations to improve safety, Ms Hemmington said.

She said a nationwide review of maternity services, allowing individuals to contribute, would be beneficial.

“We, as bereaved parents, cannot continue to hear and accept that ‘lessons will be learnt’ as this just feels like lip service,” she said.

“There’s an awful lot of learning to do from these deaths, which we are just not doing.”

NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with the Department of Health and Social Care to implement the 15 “immediate & essential actions” identified in the Ockenden report. Every NHS trust is required to consider and act on the report’s findings.

An NHS spokesperson said: “It is clear that there is much more work to be done to improve maternity services and the NHS has already taken significant action to transform care for pregnant women and their babies, including a new £127m investment to boost our workforce, strengthen leadership and improve culture – which is on top of an annual boost of £95m for recruitment and training announced last year.”

For two years, Joseph Togher had been unable to walk for more than a few minutes without searing pain in his legs which left the 72-year-old from Blackpool virtually housebound.

Russian human rights activists have formed an “underground railroad” that is helping Ukrainians transported to Russia to escape to the West, it can be revealed.

Activists speaking to i have described how ordinary Russians have formed a vast human chain and are passing people, including Mariupol survivors, from city to city until they reach the border.

It comes as Vladimir Putin prepares to watch Russian military’s annual Victory Parade in Moscow’s Red Square and while his troops continue to make a final push to subdue Mariupol’s last defenders.

A month-long investigation by i has shown that Russia is dispersing Ukrainians along a network of remote camps in former Soviet sanatoriums and other sites stretching along the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok.

One activist in Russia told i: “There is an impressive grassroots organisation on many levels. There are groups that collect clothes and toys for children.

“Others put people up in their homes for a few nights, buy train tickets and take them to the station. We are sharing messages and passing people on to groups in other cities, who are helping them get over the border.”

The activist described personally providing shelter for a family from Mariupol before helping them catch a train to another Russian city.

“Now they are travelling to Poland,” the source said.

While i understands some of those taken to Russia are preparing to stay in the country due to language, cultural or family links that stretch beyond national identities, or a lack of resources to properly understand the conflict, many others are desperate to get out of the country.

But after being taken to sites including former children’s wilderness camps and sanatoriums in forests and open countryside hundreds of miles from the border in places including Siberia, it can be almost impossible to leave Russia.

Even though they can walk freely out of the camps, a lack of money and documentation means they are stranded. Only those with phones and active on social media can make contact with Russians willing to help.

“That’s where the volunteers come in,” one activist said. “We get messages saying, ‘We’re a family with children and we need clothes’, or ‘We need a tyre for a car. Can you help?’

“At the same time, there are messages from Russian people in other cities offering help – saying ‘I can bring a car full of clothes’ or ‘I can bring money we have collected, I can take people here or there’.”

They added: “The word spreads and we help as many as we can. They make up their minds and they set off. I did a trip to some camps myself. People were allowed outside, but the volunteers couldn’t go in. They were guarded in one way or another and we were forced to meet them outside.

“But they were not stopped from leaving. They were free to go.

“There are other people though who are unable to contact the volunteers and they are stuck in a very vulnerable position. We heard of one place where people were being given spoiled food and it was making them sick.

“There is humanitarian aid, but it is bureaucratic and is not getting to people. Some people are not even given the 10,000 roubles (£121) they have been promised. The state is unable to properly look after these people. They need help.”

Social media messages analysed by i also show discussions between Russians about raising funds for clothes and toys, with one group even creating a list of shoes of various sizes needed by people in one camp.

One message seen by i showed a picture of a train leaving a grey station platform in western Russia with words saying “the mission” to get people away had been completed. It said families from Mariupol were on their way to St Petersburg.

Another message noted with relief that a group had crossed the Estonian border, while a third added: “Friends – would anyone like to help? Experience shows we need it everywhere.”

Success for those heading for the border is at the mercy of the Russian guards and depends on their mood, after a journey that can take days and is fraught with impossible obstacles.

i has revealed how a Kremlin decree has ordered regions across the Russian Federation to prepare to accept people from the war zone and how they are being dispersed to camps in Siberia, the Arctic Circle, the North Caucasus and even the Far East, with at least 10 people arriving at the remote Kamchatka Peninsula on Russia’s Pacific coast.

“People around the world are against Russia. It’s sad, but it’s understandable,” one activist in the country said. “But there are good people everywhere and we are doing what we can.”

The US comedian was attacked on stage on Tuesday evening while performing at the Hollywood Bowl.

The singer discussed the pain of losing Rupert in 2020, saying that he had been his best friend.

Sheffield-based arts charity Under the Stars hosts its first club night since the pandemic

The Game of Thrones star, 26, who is currently pregnant with her second child, revealed she wants to move back to England for the sake of her mental health.

A man has been convicted of murdering his two-year-old son by shooting him repeatedly in the head with an air gun, before stabbing and smothering him.

Families who lost babies due to errors in maternity care in Nottingham have met the health secretary, Sajid Javid.