Category Archives: UK news

Peterborough voters cite ‘Brexit, Brexit, Brexit’ as reason they turned blue

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Labour said to have ‘dug its own grave’ with Corbyn as leader as social change mantra failed to cut through

“I feel excellent,” said David Cliffe as he strode across Peterborough’s Cathedral Square, having contributed to a thumping Conservative majority. “I didn’t want to have a communist regime,” said the 71-year-old retired warehouseman. “The country would have been on its knees.”

Cliffe, who was on his way to book his mother a Christmas holiday in Scarborough, could not stop beaming about Boris Johnson’s Conservative landslide, which he reckoned meant Brexit was all but done.

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Police arrest man over antisemitic abuse on London bus

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Man, 48, held on suspicion of hate crime after passenger targeted in Stamford Hill

A man has been arrested by police investigating a hate crime attack after a bus passenger was subjected to antisemitic abuse.

The 36-year-old victim was reading a prayer book while travelling on the 254 bus towards Aldgate on 6 December when another man boarded near Stamford Hill in Hackney, north-east London.

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UK must be loyal on standards in return for market access – Macron

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French president demands regulatory harmonisation as price of good Brexit deal

Emmanuel Macron has warned Boris Johnson that the UK must remain “loyal” to EU standards post-Brexit for British companies to maintain access to the European market.

In comments echoed by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, the French president demanded continued regulatory harmonisation as the price for protecting the flow of trade, a demand that will be a cause of concern for the Conservative government.

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Lawyers complain about lack of access to Julian Assange in jail

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Defence team say he is unaware of some evidence in his case because of blockage in visits

Julian Assange has been blocked from seeing evidence in his extradition case because his lawyers cannot get sufficient access to him, a court has heard.

The WikiLeaks founder, 48, appeared at Westminster magistrates court by video link on Friday for a hearing to extend his detention in Belmarsh prison, in south-east London.

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What will Boris Johnson’s majority mean for Brexit? | Anand Menon

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We will leave the EU in a few weeks. But it’s far from clear what kind of relationship with the bloc an emboldened PM will seek

Well it is truly remarkable. Not so much the result of the election, which is surprising enough. But, rather, the fact that following the “Brexit election”, one in which traditional party loyalties seem to have been stretched to breaking point by the leave-remain divide, we emerge not knowing what kind of Brexit the prime minister intends to deliver.

In the short term, there is now no doubt that he will be able to “get Brexit done” in the sense of taking the UK out of the EU by the end of January. And no, that does not mean that Brexit will, in fact, be done (on which more in a minute) in a practical sense. But it may – may – be possible for the government to give the impression that it is in a politically persuasive way.

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Inquiry into police over monitoring of London Bridge attacker

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Usman Khan killed two people in the attack last month after his release from prison

An investigation into Staffordshire police has been launched following the London Bridge attack last month in which a terrorist killed two people before being shot dead.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has begun an investigation into the force’s role in the management of the attacker, Usman Khan, following his release from prison last year after serving a term for terrorism offences.

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‘Politically we don’t count’: EU citizens fear for future in UK

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Most EU nationals living in the UK cannot vote – leaving many feeling like pawns in a political game

In a threadbare youth centre in Bradford, Vie Clerc, who got off a Eurostar from Paris 19 years ago with £50 in her pocket and never left, laments the irony. “It’s the first one I’ll actually be able to vote in,” she said. “Shame I’ve never felt less British.”

In a bright mezzanine office in Bristol, Denny Pencheva, who landed in 2013 from Bulgaria via Copenhagen and now teaches at the university, bemoans politicians “who use us to score their political points, but don’t actually have to consider us – because politically, we don’t count”.

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Double-decker bus crashes into railway bridge in Swansea

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Eight passengers injured and a 63-year-old man arrested after part of vehicle’s roof sliced off

A double-decker bus carrying Christmas shoppers, commuters and students has crashed into a railway bridge, slicing part of the roof off and injuring eight passengers.

The bus, thought to contain more than 30 passengers, hit the low bridge at 10.15am in Swansea, south Wales. The top deck was crumpled and a section of the roof appeared to have been thrown on to the railway line above the bridge.

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EU leaders meet to try to agree on carbon neutrality by 2050

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Greenpeace activists unfurl climate emergency banner on Brussels venue before event

European leaders meeting at a summit in Brussels will make a new attempt to set the European Union on course for carbon neutrality by 2050, in a test of the bloc’s credibility on the climate emergency.

Hours before EU leaders were due to arrive on Thursday, Greenpeace activists unfurled a banner on the side of the summit venue warning of the climate emergency.

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Indian police fire teargas at citizenship bill protesters

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Paramilitary forces deployed at demonstrations in north-east over bill excluding Muslims

Indian police have fired blanks on protesters as thousands ignored a curfew in the north-east of the country in fresh demonstrations against contentious new citizenship legislation.

Officials said on Thursday about 20 to 30 people have been hurt in the protests in recent days, with vehicles torched and police firing teargas and charging the crowds with heavy wooden sticks.

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‘There’s lots of people to blame’: Jaden Moodie’s family tell of trauma

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Family say they begged for help from authorities but no one seemed to be listening

Everybody failed 14-year-old Jaden Moodie, his family say. If the teachers or the social workers or the Home Office officials had acted differently, they believe, he would still be alive today.

After Wednesday’s verdict in the Old Bailey trial of Ayoub Majdouline, a 19-year-old drug dealer who in 2018 had been classed as a victim of modern slavery over concerns he was being exploited, Jaden’s loved ones held hands in court and said: “Yes. For Jaden, we’ve done it.”

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TV naturalist David Bellamy dies aged 86

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Popular broadcaster and scientist hailed as man who ‘inspired a whole generation’

The naturalist and broadcaster David Bellamy has died aged 86, the Conservation Foundation has said.

Bellamy died on Wednesday, according to the foundation, of which he was president and co-founder. In a statement, David Shreeve, its director, said: “Sadly, I have to report that David Bellamy died this morning. David and I worked together on a variety of projects in various places since launching the Conservation Foundation in 1982.

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General election: poll suggests Tory lead narrows as campaign enters last day – live

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Labour and the Conservatives in scramble for votes on the final day of campaigning

Here’s Labour’s campaign ad this morning, invoking the Blitz spirit.

Let's get back on track. pic.twitter.com/nITBAzhJUO

A busy day all round. Johnson will be travelling from Yorkshire to the Midlands, Wales and London.

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Guardian scoops three prizes at the British Journalism Awards

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Marina Hyde, Rob Davies, Simon Hattenstone and Daniel Lavelle were all honoured

Four Guardian journalists have been honoured at this year’s British Journalism Awards for their work for the title, which was itself highly commended in the news provider of the year category.

At the ceremony at the Hilton Bankside hotel in central London on Tuesday night, Marina Hyde was described as “clever, innovative and consistently on the ball” as she was handed the prize for Comment Journalism. She was recognised for her writing on subjects including Theresa May’s historic Brexit deal defeat, Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein and Boris Johnson.

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The Guardian view on general election 2019: A fleeting chance to stop Boris Johnson in his tracks | Editorial

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The mood may be one of despair, but this election is critical to the country’s future. The best hope lies with Labour, despite its flaws

Britain has not faced a more critical election in decades than the one it faces on Thursday. The country’s future direction, its place in the world and even its territorial integrity are all at stake, primarily because this is a decisive election for Brexit. The choice is stark. The next prime minister is going to be either Boris Johnson, who is focused on “getting Brexit done” whatever the consequences, or Jeremy Corbyn, who with a Labour-led government will try to remodel society with a programme of nationalisation and public spending.

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Met officer in child abuse video case faces fast-track dismissal

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Supt Robyn Williams may be sacked before appeal against conviction can be heard

A decorated senior Metropolitan police officer controversially convicted of possessing a child abuse video is facing a fast-track dismissal from the force, the Guardian has learned.

Supt Robyn Williams could end up being sacked within months for gross misconduct, before her appeal against her conviction can be heard.

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Disgraced GP faces jail for sex assaults on 23 women and girls

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Dr Manish Shah cited cases of Angelina Jolie and Jade Goody to instil fear in his patients

A GP is facing jail after molesting 23 female patients whom he persuaded to have unnecessary examinations.

Dr Manish Shah used the cases of celebrities Angelina Jolie and Jade Goody to prey on the cancer concerns of patients as young as 17 and scare them into being examined for his own sexual gratification, the Old Bailey heard.

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‘I was hacked,’ says woman whose account claimed hospital boy photo was staged

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Woman denies posting false information that photo of four-year-old was political stunt

A medical secretary has claimed her Facebook account was hacked after it was used to post false information claiming that a photograph of an ill boy on the floor at Leeds General Infirmary was staged for political purposes.

The woman denied posting the allegation that four-year-old Jack Willment-Barr’s mother placed him on the floor specifically to take the picture which became symbolic of the NHS’s troubles after it appeared on the front page of Monday’s Daily Mirror.

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London Bridge victim’s father accuses Johnson of capitalising on death

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Dave Merritt criticises PM for seeing terrorist attack as opportunity instead of tragedy

The father of Jack Merritt, who was murdered in the London Bridge terrorist attack last month, has directly criticised the prime minister for treating his son’s death as a political “opportunity”.

As Boris Johnson sought on Tuesday to get his general election campaign back on track, Dave Merritt accused him of seeking to capitalise on his son’s murder.

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