Category Archives: UK news

Camden council was warned about paedophile nursery worker years before arrest

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Vincent Chan went on to abuse children after being cleared of ‘significant concerns’ following council-overseen inquiry

A paedophile nursery worker was cleared by an investigation overseen by a local authority three years before he was arrested.

In February, Vincent Chan was jailed after pleading guilty to 56 offences, including assault by penetration on three-year-old girls in his care at a Bright Horizons nursery on Finchley Road in north-west London. After his conviction, prosecutors described him as a “prolific sexual predator”.

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Greens must avoid ‘capture by extremists and racists’, says party MP

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Ellie Chowns says vote for ‘Zionism is racism’ policy by 0.4% of members shows party processes are not working

A Green Party MP has said she wants to make sure her party is not “vulnerable to capture by extremists and racists” amid the continuing fallout from the “Zionism is racism” vote.

The party faces a political maelstrom over its policy decision last week to treat Zionism, the movement for a Jewish state, as any other form of racism, and to back a single Palestinian state over a two-state solution. The motion was passed at the annual party conference with just over 1,000 votes, approximately 0.4% of the total membership.

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UK must not be beholden to foreign AI, says head of Alan Turing Institute

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George Williamson says ‘national resilience’ is key focus of ATI amid US and China’s runaway leadership in field

The UK must not become dependent on foreign AI systems that can be switched off at short notice and must develop its own versions of the technology, according to the head of the Alan Turing Institute.

The country needs a stronger domestic position in AI in response to the US and China’s runaway leadership in the field, with “national resilience” a key focus for ATI said George Williamson.

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Recruitment boss accused of being behind ‘doxxing’ campaign against RNLI and anti-racism activists

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Tom Watson, of Worcester, alleged to be behind Big Time Charlie X account that created so-called Traitorbase

The owner of a recruitment firm has been accused of being at the centre of a so-called “doxxing” campaign against the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), anti-racism activists and business executives who recruit black, Asian and minority ethnic workers.

Tom Watson, from Worcester, is alleged to be behind an X account calling itself “Big Time Charlie”, which was deactivated shortly after he was named by the campaign group Hope Not Hate.

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‘If voters aren’t better off by the next election, we’re screwed’: Labour insiders voice fears over budget

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Some say party risks ‘looking twee’ by focusing on small fixes amid growing nervousness that budget lacks ambition

In the days since Labour’s annual conference, party insiders have been sharing a word cloud produced by the pollsters More in Common, which shows the phrases voters most associate with Andy Burnham.

Such polling is rarely flattering for politicians, and the prime minister’s version had its fair share of negatives. But one of the most prominent words in the cloud – and the one that has caught the imagination of Labour strategists – was “trying”.

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UK savings: 5% interest rate deals may not last, say experts

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Competition is hotting up, with National Savings & Investments lifting rates to the highest in years

National Savings and Investments (NS&I) has increased the returns on some of its accounts, with many now paying more than 5% for the first time in nearly three years.

Competition in the savings market has been growing, leading to some of the highest interest rates for years.

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UK accused of giving people of Gaza false hope over new refugee safe route

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Only ‘very small number’ of people already in Lebanon or Jordan will be referred, says organisation running scheme

The Home Office is facing claims it gave false hope to the people of Gaza after it emerged that a new safe route for Palestinian refugees will only be open to those who have already escaped to Lebanon or Jordan.

Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, announced the reopening of a resettlement scheme for refugees at Labour’s annual conference last month. A statement from her department said: “Around one in four referrals will be for Afghan women and girls and Palestinian refugees, fleeing war and persecution.”

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Robert Jenrick launches scathing broadside against ‘Kensington Kemi’

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Reform UK economics spokesperson seeks to associate Tory leader with metropolitan elite as party relations sour further

Robert Jenrick has launched an extended attack on Kemi Badenoch, calling her part of a metropolitan elite and saying a coalition deal with the Tories would be like being “handcuffed to a zombie”.

Reform UK’s economics spokesperson repeatedly called the Tory leader “Kensington Kemi” and claimed her party was for people who moaned about the decline of Mayfair clubs and complained that they could not find Ottolenghi recipe ingredients in the shops.

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Tory tax break for banks has cost UK public purse £6bn, says TUC

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Exclusive: Chancellor urged to reverse Rishi Sunak’s tax surcharge cuts to claw back billions in lost revenue

Tax cuts for big banks have deprived the UK government of £6bn in revenues, according to campaigners, who are calling on the chancellor, John Healey, to increase taxes and force lenders to pay their “fair share” in the budget.

Calculations by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which represents unions with more than 5.3 million members across England and Wales, shows that the public purse is billions of pounds worse off as a result of tax cuts introduced under the Tory chancellor Rishi Sunak in 2023.

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Leader of Jewish Greens calls for Zack Polanski to resign after byelection loss

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Vivien Lichtenstein urges party leader to quit over ‘Zionism is racism’ policy – but could face no-confidence motion herself

The leader of the Jewish Greens has called for Zack Polanski to step down as pressure increases on the Green leader to acknowledge anger within the party over a new policy that equates Zionism with racism and calls for the state of Israel to be abolished.

The comments by Vivien Lichtenstein come after Caroline Lucas, the Greens’ former leader and first MP, criticised Polanski for a lack of leadership in missing the debate and vote at the weekend that resulted in the policy being passed.

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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor faced £1.8m repair bill after leaving Royal Lodge

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Ex-prince was granted £302,000 in compensation for early end of lease and king has reportedly contributed to costs

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor faced a £1.8m bill to cover repair and restoration of his former Royal Lodge home in Windsor after the lease was officially surrendered.

But the former prince was granted £302,000 in compensation for giving up the lease early on the 98-acre property, meaning his total costs came to £1.5m.

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Polls close in Holborn and St Pancras byelection as Labour hopes to retain seat

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Contest seen as test of Andy Burnham’s ability to unite Labour voters amid threat from Green party’s Zack Polanski

Polls have closed in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, a contest seen as a test of Andy Burnham’s ability to unite Labour’s voters or whether Zack Polanski can peel off support from the party’s progressive flank.

Labour is seeking to retain Keir Starmer’s former north London seat, where he won a majority of more than 11,000 votes in the 2024 general election, in what has become a measure of the political landscape under Burnham, months into his premiership.

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Two Latvian men arrested at RAF base in Cambridgeshire used by US military

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Men aged 32 and 36 detained on suspicion of trespass, causing criminal damage and entering a prohibited place

Two Latvian men were arrested in the early hours of Thursday after they were discovered inside the perimeter of RAF Molesworth, a Cambridgeshire base used by the US military and Nato for intelligence operations.

The men, 32 and 36, were picked up at 2am inside the base, in an investigation that began four hours earlier when military police discovered an abandoned vehicle outside the facility.

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A lake pilgrimage and a quiet car ride to the beach: last hours of sisters who took own lives in Brighton

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Inquest hears details of how three women spent their final days but why they ended their lives may never be known

Jane Adetoro and her younger sisters, Christina and Rebecca Walters, were “the closest sisters and the best friends”, according to their family. Devoted to their father, Joseph, whom they messaged every day, the adult siblings lived quiet lives in the flat they shared in west London and would do everything together.

When they died in May this year, it was no different. Early in the morning of 13 May, the sisters’ bodies were recovered from the sea in Brighton, hours after a taxi had dropped the three women at the beachfront.

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Israel’s downgrading of UK consulate aims to tighten its hold on Jerusalem

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Consulate targeted in sanctions spat has unusual diplomatic status that clashes with Israel’s ambitions to fully annex the city

Israel’s attempt to close the British consulate general in Jerusalem was primarily designed to deter London from imposing sanctions on settlements in occupied Palestine. But it also served the current government’s ambitions to fully annex Jerusalem as a national capital, diplomatic and legal experts said.

The UK mission to the city has an unusual diplomatic status, which dates back to before the founding of the state of Israel, rooted in a vision of Jerusalem as a neutral enclave under international control.

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Supermarket shake-up: why Asda or Morrisons could vanish within a decade

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Talks between Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have set industry tongues wagging, with analysts saying the market is ripe for change

They may be two of the most recognisable brands in Britain, with a combined 188 years serving shoppers, but industry watchers agree that either Asda or Morrisons – or both – could disappear within a decade.

This week, it emerged that Sainsbury’s and Morrisons – the UK’s second- and sixth-largest supermarket chains – had held merger talks between last November and February, before the larger player decided to walk away.

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New direct train services from London to Wrexham and Rochdale rejected

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Regulator also vetoes extra Blackpool service, citing lack of space on west coast mainline for new direct trains to capital

Plans to run direct train services to Wrexham and Rochdale from London have been rejected by the rail regulator because of “significant pressure” on the line.

The Office of Rail and Road said that there was insufficient space on the crowded west coast mainline to introduce the two new separate train services.

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Royal Navy sailor accused of spying for Russia appears in court

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Intelligence specialist Teddy Young, 24, alleged to have drafted message in Russian containing classified information

A junior Royal Navy intelligence specialist from Bedfordshire accused of trying to pass military secrets to Russia appeared in court on Thursday.

Teddy Young, 24, was accused of abusing his high-level security clearance to access secret defence and intelligence data after being deployed on a warship.

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British consulate in East Jerusalem will stay open as UK mission, says Ed Miliband

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UK and Israel back away from full diplomatic confrontation, though British presence in Palestine will be much reduced

Israel and the UK have backed away from a full-scale diplomatic confrontation, with Britain announcing it is rebranding its consulate general ⁠building in ⁠East Jerusalem ​as a UK mission, a move that will result in UK diplomats leaving Israel, with only seven to remain in the building. Among those leaving is the consul general, Helen Winterton.

The change was forced on the UK by the Israeli government as punishment for the decision by the foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, last month to ban trade with illegal settlements and introduce a tougher sanctions regime against those who aided the building of settlements. The UK is seeking to protect the two-state solution as the best means of ending the Israel-Palestine conflict.

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Covid, Brexit and Liz Truss mini-budget led to lasting decline in mental health, study finds

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Researchers found five events, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, caused serious damage to mental wellbeing across UK

Brexit, Liz Truss’s mini-budget and other “shocks” over the last 10 years have led to a serious and lasting deterioration in the UK population’s mental health, research has found.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the first and second Covid lockdowns also triggered big rises in psychological distress, as measured by the number of people with depression and anxiety.

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