Category Archives: UK news

Vaccine warning for England as one in five children start school unprotected

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Experts say country needs ‘wake up call’ with levels far below those needed for herd immunity

England needs to “wake up” to its faltering infant vaccination programme, experts have warned, as it was revealed that one in five children start primary school unprotected from serious infectious diseases.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the target for vaccine uptake among children in order to achieve herd immunity is 95%. But figures for 2024-25 released by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Thursday show that no childhood vaccine has met this requirement.

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Asylum ban at Essex hotel may incite future demonstrations, court hears

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Home Office and the Bell hotel owners are challenging Epping Forest council’s injunction to stop 138 asylum seekers being housed

A ban on housing asylum seekers at a protest-hit hotel would have a “serious impact” on the government’s ability to house refugees and could incite further demonstrations, the court of appeal has heard.

The Home Office and the owners of the Bell hotel in Essex have launched an appeal against the temporary injunction granted to Epping Forest district council (EFDC) last week.

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Heritage fashion brand Belstaff bought by British sportswear group Castore

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Struggling brand sold by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos, which is to take ‘strategic investment’ in Castore’s holding company

Belstaff, the struggling British fashion brand known for its heritage motorcycle gear, has been bought by the sportswear group Castore from the billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos.

Under the deal, the terms of which have not been disclosed, Ineos will make a “significant strategic investment” in Castore’s holding company.

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UK, Germany and France say they have triggered UN sanctions on Iran

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Move by trio of European powers gives Tehran 30 days to improve access for inspection of its nuclear sites

The UK, France and Germany have formally notified the UN that they have triggered the restoration of sweeping UN sanctions against Iran, giving Tehran 30 days to make concessions on access to its nuclear sites or face deeper worldwide economic isolation.

UK officials said the decision had not been taken lightly and there had been intensive diplomacy to try to avert this step. The officials emphasised there was still room for last-ditch diplomacy before the sanctions “snapback” comes into force in 30 days’ time. The annual high-level UN general assembly in September is likely to involve more intensive diplomacy over the situation with Iran.

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Tony Blair attends White House meeting with Trump on postwar Gaza

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Former prime minister in Washington DC on Wednesday for talks that reportedly also included Jared Kushner

The former British prime minister Tony Blair has attended a White House meeting with Donald Trump to discuss plans for postwar Gaza, the Guardian understands.

After stepping down as prime minister in 2007, Blair took on the role of Middle East envoy until 2015 and spent time in Jerusalem trying to formulate a plan for a two-state solution.

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Man whose arrest sparked asylum hotel protests tells court he did not touch girls

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Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu denies sexually assaulting two teenagers and a woman in Epping last month

An Ethiopian man who became the focus of far-right demonstrations outside a hotel in Epping after being accused of sexually assaulting two teenagers has told a court he did not touch the girls.

“I’m not a wild animal. I can’t do these kind of things,” Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, an asylum seeker housed at the Bell hotel in Epping, told his trial at Colchester magistrates court on Wednesday.

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Octopus Energy founder appointed as UK government adviser

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Greg Jackson expected to use three-year term on Cabinet Office board to push government to modernise

Keir Starmer has appointed the outspoken founder of Octopus Energy as an adviser, with a remit to challenge government thinking.

Greg Jackson has joined the Cabinet Office board, an influential core of government advisers, as a non-executive member.

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Tommy Robinson will not be charged over alleged St Pancras assault, police say

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British Transport Police say alleged victim ‘did not wish to provide a statement to the investigation’

The far-right activist Tommy Robinson will not face charges over allegations he punched a man to the ground at a London train station, police and prosecutors have announced.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm after the incident on 28 July at St Pancras train station.

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Confidence drops across UK services in face of higher costs and weak demand

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CBI survey shows firms cutting hiring and investment as profits squeezed, with outlook gloomy for rest of year

Business confidence plunged this month across the UK’s services sector as mounting cost pressures and weak demand hit profits and undermined the outlook for the rest of the year.

The CBI’s latest service sector poll found that a majority of companies were gloomy about their prospects and discounted the acceleration in activity that usually follows the return to work after the summer break.

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A third of outpatients treated for wounds at MSF’s Gaza hospitals in 2024 were children, figures show

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Explosive weapons designed to be used in battle are being used in urban areas, says Médecins Sans Frontières

Children under 15 years old made up almost a third of outpatients treated for wounds in field hospitals run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Gaza last year, statistics published in The Lancet reveal.

The figures were released by MSF in correspondence with the respected medical journal and come from six health facilities in Gaza supported by the international medical NGO. The facilities are predominantly in the south and centre of the devastated territory.

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‘Every week I look forward to it’: Belfast woman, 97, completes 250 parkruns

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Grace Chambers, whose daughter dared her to join nine years ago, hopes to be first centenarian at her local event

When Grace Chambers ran her first parkrun, it was the result of a dare. Now, nine years later, and at 97 years old, she has reached the sought-after milestone of 250 runs.

Chambers first took part after her daughter Michele registered her for the free, weekly timed events that take place in parks and public spaces in several countries around the globe.

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Cancer charities call for earlier diagnosis as cases projected to surge in England by 2040

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NHS may struggle to cope with more than 6 million predicted new cases over next 15 years, study shows

Cancer cases are projected to surge in England by 2040, with a person diagnosed every two minutes, up from one every four minutes in the 1970s.

More than 6 million new cases of the disease are predicted to be diagnosed over the next 15 years, with the NHS at risk of being unable to cope unless action is taken to prevent more cases and diagnose the disease earlier, when it is more treatable.

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Toy air fryer will be a Christmas bestseller, John Lewis predicts

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Fries and chicken drumsticks are included – or young cooks might prefer a mini-me Ooni pizza oven

The air fryer has rapidly become a must-have kitchen appliance, so it was only a matter of time before the craze reached toy town, with a chic wooden version tipped as a Christmas bestseller.

If you are thinking it’s too soon to mention Christmas, it’s hard to disagree. But with the school summer holidays almost over (or already over for some) and the UK weather forecast signalling a “band of heavy rain”, retailers are starting festive campaigns.

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Radiohead’s Let Down enters US Billboard charts 28 years after its release

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Song from 1997 album OK Computer scores band their fourth spot in the chart after going viral on TikTok

Radiohead have entered the US singles chart with a song from their album OK Computer that has gone viral on social media 28 years after its release.

Let Down, the third single from the British band’s 1997 album, entered at No 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week after rising in popularity on TikTok.

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Couple who died in Isle of Wight helicopter crash named

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Justyna Czoska, a horse riding instructor, and her partner, Wojtek Kowalkowski, died along with a third person

A couple who died in a helicopter crash during the bank holiday on the Isle of Wight have been named by relatives.

Justyna Czoska, 52, a horse riding instructor, and her partner, Wojtek Kowalkowski, 49, from Bloxham, Oxfordshire, died after the aircraft crash-landed at about 9.24am on Monday between Shanklin and Whiteley Bank. The helicopter had taken off from Sandown airport 20 minutes earlier.

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Peers who do not participate enough in House of Lords face sack

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Ministers will also press ahead with plan for retirement age of 80 after bill abolishing remaining hereditary peers goes through

Labour plans to remove peers who do not contribute enough to the House of Lords and to press ahead with plans for a retirement age of 80 from the upper house.

Writing for the Telegraph, the leader of the House of Lords, Angela Smith, said a select committee would consider the next stage of Lords reform after the abolition of hereditary peers.

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One in four UK late-night venues have closed since 2020, figures show

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Industry body calls for urgent tax cuts to save ‘cornerstones of community life’ and halt rise of ‘night-time deserts’

More than one in four late-night venues have shut their doors since 2020, figures show, prompting lobbyists to warn that the UK faces a worrying rise in “night-time deserts” without urgent tax cuts.

Nearly 800 late-night businesses have been forced to close over the past five years, according to the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), representing a 26.4% contraction in the late-night sector overall. That compares with a 14.2% contraction across the wider hospitality sector.

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Dorset police investigate antisemitic hate crimes including swastika graffiti

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Officers step up patrols for Bournemouth’s Jewish community after teenage boy shot with air rifle

Dorset police have launched an investigation and stepped up patrols for Bournemouth’s Jewish community after a wave of antisemitic hate crimes in the seaside town.

Over the weekend, a teenage boy was shot with an air rifle and injured, and swastika graffiti appeared on buildings, police said.

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Trump threatens tariffs on countries that ‘discriminate’ against US tech

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Levies and restrictions could hit UK’s digital services tax and EU states such as France, Italy and Spain

Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs and export restrictions on countries whose taxes, legislation and regulations target US big tech companies such as Google, Meta, Amazon and Apple.

In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, the US president said: “Digital taxes, legislation, rules or regulations are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American technology.”

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‘If you survive this, you’ll survive anything’: new UK reality show that strands ‘newlyweds’ on honeymoon

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BBC’s Stranded on Honeymoon Island tests whether love can flourish ‘in toughest of conditions’, says Davina McCall

The new BBC series Stranded on Honeymoon Island is a “social experiment” about the reality of marriage that will teach audiences about “moving forward with your life”, its host, Davina McCall, has said.

Made by the producers of Married at First Sight UK, the show features 12 singles looking for lifelong love who are matched with someone on a speed date and “married”. They are then stranded on a tropical island dressed only in their wedding outfit for a three-week honeymoon without phones, luxuries, family or friends.

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