US band Haim, consisting of sisters Alana, Este, and Danielle Haim, has announced a UK tour in support of their forthcoming album 'I Quit'. The tour marks their first performances in the UK since their 2023 show at London's All Points East. The band is set to play in major cities including London, Cardiff, and Glasgow, with the tour kicking off on October 24th at Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena and concluding on October 31st at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow.

The announcement comes on the heels of the release of three singles from the new album: 'Relationships', 'Everybody's Trying To Figure Me Out', and 'Down To Be Wrong'. Danielle Haim shared her personal connection to 'Everybody's Trying To Figure Me Out', describing it as her favorite song written in recent years and a source of comfort during challenging times. The album 'I Quit', set to be released on June 20th, is the band's first since 2020's 'Women In Music Pt III', which earned them a Brit Award and two Grammy nominations.

Tickets for the tour will go on general sale at 10am on May 2nd, with several presale opportunities available beforehand. Fans who have pre-ordered the album can access a presale starting Tuesday, while O2 Priority members and Live Nation newsletter subscribers have their own exclusive windows. The tour promises to bring Haim's dynamic performances to some of the UK's largest venues, including London's The O2 and Manchester's Co-Op Live.

Formed in California in 2007, Haim has established themselves as a formidable force in the music industry, with six UK top 40 singles and two UK number one albums. Their upcoming tour not only supports their new album but also continues their tradition of connecting with fans through heartfelt music and electrifying live performances. As the band prepares to take the stage across the UK, fans eagerly anticipate the release of 'I Quit' and the opportunity to experience Haim's latest musical evolution live.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has announced an urgent independent inquiry into maternity services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, describing himself as "shocked" by families' experiences of "repeated maternity failures in Leeds - made worse by the unacceptable response of the trust." The decision comes after years of campaigning by bereaved families who reported feeling "gaslit, dismissed and even blamed" for what went wrong at one of Europe's largest teaching hospitals. Mr. Streeting emphasized the "stark contradiction between scale and safety standards" at the trust, which official data shows "remains an outlier on perinatal mortality."

The inquiry follows a June downgrade by the Care Quality Commission, which rated maternity services at the trust as "inadequate" and identified serious risks to women and babies. Inspectors highlighted a deep-rooted "blame culture" that made staff reluctant to raise concerns about incidents. Brendan Brown, chief executive of LTH NHS Trust, apologized to bereaved families and expressed hope that the inquiry would provide them with "answers." He stated the trust is "determined to do better" and is already taking significant steps to improve maternity and neonatal services following reviews by regulatory bodies.

Families affected by the failures have welcomed the inquiry but are calling for rigorous leadership, specifically requesting that midwife Donna Ockenden chair the investigation. Fiona Winser-Ramm, whose daughter Aliona died in 2020 after an inquest found multiple failures, emphasized the importance of ensuring the inquiry is "the best and most thorough that it can possibly be." She described how families have been "thrust into this life that none of us should be living," noting that their shared grief should never have brought them together under such circumstances.

Serious questions are now being raised about what Sir Julian Hartley, who led the trust for ten years until 2023 and now heads the Care Quality Commission, knew about the poor maternity care. In a statement, Sir Julian expressed being "truly sorry" for families' suffering and said that while he was "absolutely committed to ensuring good patient care across all services, including maternity," this commitment "wasn't enough to prevent some families suffering pain and loss." Lauren Caulfield, whose daughter Grace died in 2022, called it "completely unacceptable that nothing has been done to date" to examine Sir Julian's role, expressing hope that the inquiry will address this gap.