A care home resident aged 103 has become a social media influencer – giving make-up tutorials on TikTok to 300,000 viewers. Joan Partridge started by demonstrating how to blend blusher into her cheeks without white lines appearing. The great-great-grandmother, of Millcroft care home in Redditch, Worcestershire, said: “I never thought I’d have gained so much attention.”
Birmingham Live (Daragh Brady)
Who’s a precarious boy then?
A man became stuck in a tree attempting to rescue his pet parrot in Thurnby, Leicestershire. The fire service was called to Manor Field Play Park after the bird flew into high branches. Crews used an aerial ladder to reach the man while surrounding roads were closed for an hour and a half as the rescue was carried out.
BBC News (Robert Colls)
Off to a great start
The first train to run on South Western Railway after its renationalisation was replaced by a bus due to “maintenance and upgrades”. The operator came under state ownership at 1.59am on Sunday 25 May, but the first service – the 2.27am from Guildford to London Waterloo – was cancelled. Instead, the timetable listed a bus to Woking, a train to Surbiton, a bus to Clapham Junction and then a train that arrived at Waterloo at 7.38am. The first train to run was the 5.36am from Woking, which was affected by bank holiday engineering works.
Times (David Lamming)
[See also: Things will only get incrementally better for Keir Starmer]
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This article appears in the 04 Jun 2025 issue of the New Statesman, The Housing Trap