Category Archives: UK news

Year 6 pupils spend Easter at school cramming for Sats

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Teaching officials angry that children are having to attend revision classes over holidays

Children at hundreds of primary schools in England are being asked to attend Sats revision classes over the Easter holidays, a teaching union official has revealed, warning that it was part of a disturbing trend.

Darren Northcott, the NASUWT national officer for education, said revision classes for primary school pupils were unheard of five years ago but that he now knew of hundreds of cases of pupils in their final year of primary – Year 6 – being asked in for “cramming” by their schools ahead of the tests next month.

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Second referendum is only way to beat Nigel Farage, warns Tom Watson

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Labour deputy leader in shock intervention that threatens to ignite row at party’s highest levels

Labour will never defeat Nigel Farage if it continues to “sit on the fence” over Brexit and offers only “mealy-mouthed” support for a second referendum, the party’s deputy leader says today.

In an extraordinary intervention that exposes the tensions at the top of the party over Brexit strategy, Tom Watson warns that Labour will lose to Farage’s new “far right” Brexit party in May’s European elections if it continues to give the impression that “we half agree with him”.

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Tony Blair: migrants should be forced to integrate more to combat far right

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Former PM claims that ‘failure’ of multiculturalism has led to rise in bigotry

Migrant communities must be compelled to do more to integrate to help combat the rise of “far-right bigotry”, Tony Blair has warned.

The former prime minister said that successive governments had “failed to find the right balance between diversity and integration”, while the concept of multiculturalism has been misused as a way to justify a “refusal to integrate”.

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UK temperature hits 70-year high for Easter bank holiday

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25.5C recorded, with 27C expected on Monday, which would make UK warmer than Morocco

Britons experienced the hottest day of the year so far on Saturday, and the hottest Easter bank holiday weekend for 70 years, as the temperature hit 25.5C (77.9F) in Gosport in Hampshire.

The temperature is expected to rise even further on Monday to 27C, making the sunniest spots in the UK warmer than most of Europe, Algeria and Morocco.

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Millions for Notre Dame – but nothing for us, say gilets jaunes

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Yellow vest protesters angry over high taxes and inequality march in Paris days after blaze

Riot police and protesters have fought running battles in the centre of Paris as gilets jaunes anti-government demonstrators in fluorescent yellow vests led street marches over what they called “a crisis” of high taxes and economic inequality.

Less than a week after the fire that destroyed the roof and spire of Notre Dame Cathedral, firefighters rushed to put out multiple small fires around the Place de la République, as motorbikes, bins, bicycles and cars were set alight on roads and pavements. Groups of masked men threw projectiles and police fired teargas. Some rioters in masks smashed the window of a sports shop and ran in to loot it, emerging with bags full of goods.

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UK-born baby of parents with right to remain given six-month tourist stamp

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Father Charles Kriel and mother Katharina Viken were returning to UK from holiday in Florida

A baby born in the UK to two parents who have indefinite leave to remain in Britain has been denied the right to live in the country in what a human rights lawyer has described as a potentially unlawful move.

Dr Charles Kriel, a US national and special adviser to a parliamentary select committee, said he was returning to the UK from a holiday in Florida with his fiancee, Katharina Viken, and their baby daughter was denied entry. The child was eventually given a six-month tourist stamp to enter the country.

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Afghan telecoms ministry hit by blast as attackers enter Kabul building

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Officials report gunfire as unknown attackers battle security forces in Afghan capital

An explosion has hit the centre of the Afghan capital Kabul and unidentified attackers appear to have entered a multistorey building housing the communications ministry where they were battling security forces, officials have said.

Gunfire could be clearly heard by witnesses in Kabul on Saturday, but the area around the site was cordoned off by security forces.

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Lyra McKee killing: ‘New breed of terrorism’ in Northern Ireland, says PSNI

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Police arrest two teenagers under anti-terror law after shooting of journalist in Derry

A new breed of terrorist is coming through the ranks in Northern Ireland, the detective leading the hunt for Lyra McKee’s killers said.

Police on Saturday arrested two teenagers in connection with the murder of the journalist in Derry. Officers suspect they are members of the dissident republican group New IRA.

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Battle of Waterloo Bridge: a week of Extinction Rebellion protests

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Group’s ongoing peaceful disruption in London is gaining it global attention and new members

On Monday morning a strange sight appeared, edging its way through the buses, taxis and shoppers on Oxford Street in London.

A bright pink boat, named Berta Cáceres after the murdered Honduran environmental activist, was being pulled carefully through the traffic, eventually coming to a halt in the middle of one of London’s busiest thoroughfares.

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Ethics committee raises alarm over ‘predictive policing’ tool

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Algorithm that predicts who will reoffend may give rise to ethical concerns such as bias

A computer tool used by police to predict which people are likely to reoffend has come under scrutiny from one force’s ethics committee, who said there were a lot of “unanswered questions” and concerns about potential bias.

Amid mounting financial pressure, at least a dozen police forces are using or considering predictive analytics, despite warnings from campaigners that use of algorithms and “predictive policing” models risks locking discrimination into the criminal justice system.

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Northern Irish police call for peace in name of killed journalist

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Officers urge dissidents to step away from violence after Lyra McKee shot in Derry riots

Police in Northern Ireland have issued a call for peace in memory of the journalist Lyra McKee, who died after being shot during rioting in Derry on Thursday night.

Evoking the 29-year-old’s own words about the power of conversation, police encouraged relatives of dissident republicans, who have been blamed for shooting McKee, to urge their family members to step away from violence and pursue peace.

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Half of UK consumers willing to pay more to avoid plastic packaging

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Exclusive: eight in 10 trying to cut plastic waste and 46% feel guilty about it, survey shows

Eight in 10 consumers are trying to reduce their plastic waste and half would be willing to pay higher prices for eco-friendly packaging, according to a survey that highlights the impact of the Blue Planet documentary and the campaign to reduce such rubbish.

The research by YouGov shows 46% of people in the UK feel guilty about the amount of plastic they use, which is motivating them to consider changes in their behaviour, including paying more so companies will find alternatives to single-use plastics.

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Greta Thunberg hopes to join climate protests during London visit

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Swedish 16-year-old, who is taking campaign to parliament, keen to be part of Extinction Rebellion action

Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old founder of the school strikes for action against climate change, has said she hopes to join the Extinction Rebellion protests when she visits London next week.

The Swedish activist will also take the campaign to the UK parliament, where she will speak to dozens of MPs including the Green party MP Caroline Lucas, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and the environment secretary, Michael Gove.

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Derry: woman killed in ‘terrorist’ act, say Northern Ireland police

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Petrol bombs thrown and shots fired in Creggan area of city

A 29-year-old woman has died after shots were fired in Derry, with police in Northern Ireland treating the death as a “terrorist incident”. The victim was reported locally to have been a journalist and author who was covering the unrest taking place in the Creggan area of the city.

Assistant chief constable Mark Hamilton, from the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said a murder inquiry had been launched after the death on Thursday evening. Petrol bombs were thrown and images from the scene show vehicles alight and others burnt out.

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London teachers die in buggy crash on Greek island of Santorini

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Milly and Toby Savill, both in their twenties, died when their vehicle plunged into a ravine

Tributes have been paid to a “devoted” young British couple who died while on holiday on the Greek island of Santorini when the buggy they were driving plunged 200 metres into a ravine.

Teachers Milly and Toby Savill – both in their twenties – died in the accident on Sunday afternoon, according to local media reports.

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The Guardian view on Britain and the EU elections: get together to stay together | Editorial

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There is a public majority against Brexit. The political parties must cooperate to ensure that its voice is heard in any elections

If they take place, European elections in Britain would ideally serve three complementary purposes. The first would be to widen the national debate about Britain’s relations with Europe. The second would be to ensure the electoral argument has a pro-European outcome. The third would be to send a clear pro-European message from British voters to the EU. All this is not going as well for the pro-European side as it should be.

The political context for EU elections remains healthy for pro-Europeans. Brexit has proved far more difficult than leavers originally claimed. Leavers are very deeply divided. The problems have contributed to some public rethinking. Since Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016, public opinion has slowly but steadily shifted towards remaining. The current poll of polls on the issue shows a 54%-46% remain lead. A ComRes poll this week has the gap at 58%-42%.

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Facebook bans far-right groups including BNP, EDL and Britain First

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Number of organisations and individuals permanently banned for being ‘dangerous’

Years after the company first dismissed fears it was empowering extremists, Facebook has permanently banned a number of far-right organisations and individuals including the British National party (BNP), the English Defence League (EDL) and Britain First .

The ban, which came into effect at midday on Thursday, extends beyond the groups and individuals specifically cited as hate organisations: posts and other content that “expresses praise or support” for them will also be banned, as will users who coordinate support for the groups.

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‘Concreteberg’ weighing 105 tonnes found in London sewer

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Authorities say 100-metre-long mass is the result of concrete being poured down drain

People pouring concrete into sewers has led to a “concreteberg” forming in central London that weighs 105 tonnes, as heavy as a blue whale.

The 100-metre-long mass is blocking three Victorian-era sewers in the heart of the capital. Thames Water’s operations manager, Alex Saunders, said it was the largest mass of concrete the company had seen, and could take two months to remove at a cost of at least several hundred thousand pounds.

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