Category Archives: UK news

‘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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Chechen killed in Berlin was cruel and bloodthirsty, claims Putin

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Politicians in Germany say claims from Russian leader are designed to muddy waters around murder

Vladimir Putin has claimed the Chechen separatist shot dead in Berlin in what prosecutors believe was a state-sanctioned assassination had been responsible for carrying out killings on Russian soil, frustrating German politicians who have sought clarification over the Kremlin’s involvement in the murder.

At a joint press conference with the leaders of Germany, France and Ukraine at the end of a summit in Paris, Putin described the Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili as “a cruel and bloodthirsty person” whom Russian authorities had sought to have extradited from his exile in Germany.

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It’s time to act against the oil companies causing death and destruction | John Sentamu

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Repentance, reparation and remedy for the terrible damage done to the people of Bayelsa state in Nigeria is long overdue

• John Sentamu is the archbishop of York

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights begins: “All human beings … should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” It is now widely acknowledged that human rights cannot be enjoyed without a safe, clean and healthy environment. The right to a healthy environment is enshrined in more than 100 constitutions all over the world because human and environmental rights are intertwined.

However, despite the endorsement of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, oil companies exploiting irreplaceable resources in the Niger Delta are callously flouting fundamental human rights. That is the conclusion I have been forced to draw from my work as chair of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission (BSOEC).

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With two days to go, Boris Johnson is in his comfort zone

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Target seats such as Grimsby have not been blue for decades. To win here will require more than giant cod and snappy slogans

Boris Johnson does not look like a prime minister who believes he is just about to lose the office he has coveted since boyhood.

Brandishing a giant cod and joking with fishmongers, he is in his campaign comfort zone. It is the mode of the Vote Leave tour bus: eye-catching photo ops, a snappy slogan and informal stump speeches that play fast and loose with the facts about Brexit.

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Brexit deal includes two-way customs checks, insists Ireland

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Foreign minister challenges Johnson’s claim about goods moving from Northern Ireland to Britain

Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign minister, has challenged Boris Johnson’s claim that under his Brexit deal there would be no checks or controls on goods moving between Northern Ireland and Britain.

Coveney insisted that under the terms of the withdrawal agreement the prime minister negotiated with the European Union there would be inspections on goods moving in both directions.

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Jaden Moodie murder: suspect accused of ‘preposterous’ claims

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Ayoub Majdouline has said his clothes were stolen and worn by an attacker of the 14-year-old

A teenager’s claim that another gang member stole his clothes and wore them during the murder of 14-year-old Jaden Moodie is “preposterous”, a court has been told.

Ayoub Majdouline, 19, is accused of being part of a drug gang who rammed Jaden to the ground with a car before stabbing him with three knives and leaving him to bleed to death in the street in Leyton, east London.

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PM refuses to look at picture of boy forced to sleep on hospital floor

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Boris Johnson accused of not caring after refusing reporter’s requests several times

Boris Johnson has been accused of not caring after he repeatedly refused during a TV interview to look at a photo of a four-year-old boy forced to sleep on the floor at an overcrowded A&E unit, before pocketing the reporter’s phone on which he was being shown the picture.

In an ITV interview during a campaign visit to a factory in Sunderland, the prime minister was challenged about the plight of Jack Williment-Barr, who was pictured sleeping under coats on a hospital floor in Leeds as he waited for a bed, despite having suspected pneumonia.

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Phoebe Waller-Bridge: I was not hired for Bond because of my gender

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Fleabag creator says she was never told 007 script role was to help with female characters

Phoebe Waller-Bridge will be only the second woman ever credited on a Bond movie script but she has insisted gender was not the reason she was hired.

The Fleabag creator said it was “mad” and “exciting” to work on No Time to Die, in which Daniel Craig will play 007 for the final time. But there was never a conversation about her being there to help with the film’s female characters.

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‘Sometimes the world goes feral’ – 11 odes to Europe

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As Britain braces itself for the Brexit endgame, leading poets – from Carol Ann Duffy to Andrew McMillan – take the pulse of our fragmenting world

From the collection Kin, Cinnamon Press, 2018

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Close Scottish grouse moors to help climate, report urges

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Intensively managed estates have created treeless landscapes with few animals and plants

Conservation groups have called for Scotland’s grouse moors to be closed down and replaced by woodland to protect the country from the impacts of the climate emergency.

A report for Revive, a coalition of environmental and animal rights groups, has found grouse moors cause significant ecological damage by burning heather, allowing heavy grazing by deer and sheep, and using intensive predator control.

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More than a million viewers paid to watch Joshua regain titles

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Eddie Hearn, the boxer’s promoter, said fight ‘almost certainly’ broke UK pay-per-view record

Criticism of Anthony Joshua for boxing in Saudi Arabia does not appear to have affected his popularity with the British public, with more than a million people paying at least £24.95 to watch the heavyweight regain his world titles on Saturday – a figure that is likely to be a UK record.

Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, said: “We are waiting on the final number but it has almost certainly broken the UK pay-per-view record.”

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