Category Archives: UK news

British ice dancer and same-sex skating partner to compete in Finland after rule change

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Mille Colling and Emma Aalto given go-ahead to compete in qualifier for national championships next month

A British ice dancer and her skating partner are to become Finland’s first same-sex team to take part in a competition after a rule change by the country’s skating federation.

Millie Colling, 20, who was born in Gateshead and moved to Finland at the age of six, and Emma Aalto, 19, will compete in a qualifier for the national championships next month after pressing for an amendment to the rules to allow them to enter as a team.

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Nine Met police suspended amid inquiry into claims of excessive force

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Watchdog says there are also allegations of discriminatory and misogynistic comments, centring on Charing Cross police station

Nine Scotland Yard officers have been suspended after an investigation was launched into claims of excessive use of force and the making of discriminatory and misogynistic comments.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the allegations centre on Charing Cross police station in central London, the source of a previous scandal for the Metropolitan police.

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UK universities cut back on crucial research because of reduced funding

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One in five institutions spending less, including in areas such as cancer and heart disease, says report

Universities are cutting back on vital research, with world-leading work on deadly conditions such as cancer and heart disease under threat from an erosion in funding from government and charities, according to a report.

The report, compiled by Universities UK, found that one in five UK universities have reduced their research activity, including cuts to life sciences, medicine and environmental sciences, and many said they were expecting to make steeper cuts in the future because of mounting financial pressures.

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Suspended London Pride boss ordered to relinquish control of company bank account

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Christoper Joell-Deshields to hand over Pride for London’s banking passwords, social media and email accounts

The head of London’s Pride parade, who is fighting claims that he used its funds for his personal benefit, has been ordered by the high court to relinquish control of the organising body’s bank account.

Christoper Joell-Deshields, who was suspended as chief executive last month, consented to an order on Friday to hand over Pride for London’s banking passwords, social media and email accounts.

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Hopes rise of pardon for Abd el-Fattah as Starmer speaks with Egypt president

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Decision expected soon after reports in Cairo about status of imprisoned dual-national human rights activist

Keir Starmer has spoken to Abdel Fatah al-Sisi amid reports the Egyptian president has directed his officials to study an internal request to grant a pardon to release the British-Egyptian human rights activist and writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah.

Abd el-Fattah’s British-based family are not commenting on developments save to say they are praying for his release.

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Digested week: Marsupial brings cheer in dark and dysfunctional days | Emma Brockes

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It was left to a – albeit extinct – tiny relative of the kangaroo to offer some relief from the blizzard of major events

Where to start in a week so fraught with major events you could hardly draw breath for the news flashes? It started with Trump’s alleged contribution to Jeffrey Epstein’s “birthday book,” shared by the Democrats on social media on Monday and leading to the discovery of a name not widely recognised in the US but of intense interest in the UK – Peter Mandelson. The British ambassador to the US had proffered an undiplomatically warm birthday message to the late child sex offender financier, starting a press scramble that ended, on Thursday, with Keir Starmer firing him.

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Business rates rise would put hundreds of big shops at risk, say UK retailers

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Concern for ‘anchor tenants’ as trade body warns that stores could put up prices or cut jobs to protect profits

Up to 400 large shops are at risk of closure with as many as 100,000 jobs at risk if the government goes ahead with plans to hit stores with higher business rates, retailers have warned.

Some of the UK’s largest retail premises, including supermarkets and department stores, would face higher property tax charges under new rules being considered by the government before November’s budget.

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Relax with Rembrandt: artist’s self-portrait to take a slow tour of England

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National Trust-owned painting will be exhibited with a meditation option for art lovers to take a long, lingering look

The impulse to race around a gallery and take in as many wonderful paintings as possible can be hard to resist.

But art enthusiasts are being urged to slow down and take a lingering, meditative look at one of the great self-portraits when it is taken on an unhurried tour of England.

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Hospices ‘on the brink’ financially if assisted dying is legalised

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As House of Lords prepares to debate bill, Hospice UK says sector needs adequate funding for end-of-life care

Hospices are “on the brink” and two in five are making cuts this year despite the importance of end-of-life care if assisted dying becomes legal, the sector has warned before the first House of Lords debate on the legislation.

Hospice UK, which represents the sector, said many were financially struggling and still “in the dark” about how funding for end-of-life care will be improved when assisted dying legislation is passed.

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Archaeologists scramble to evacuate Gaza artefacts threatened by Israeli strike

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Officials hurriedly remove nearly three decades of finds in ‘high-risk operation’

An official in charge of nearly three decades of archaeological finds in Gaza has described how the artefacts were hurriedly evacuated from a Gaza City building threatened by an Israeli strike.

“This was a high-risk operation, carried out in an extremely dangerous context for everyone involved – a real last-minute rescue,” said Olivier Poquillon, director of the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem (EBAF), which housed the relics.

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UK should work with Nato on new missile defence system to counter Russia, experts say

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After Russian drones entered Polish airspace, two authors of the UK strategic defence review said Europe would need to build up its defences

Britain should work with Nato allies in developing an integrated air and missile defence system after the incursion of nearly 20 Russian drones into Poland, according to two authors of the UK strategic defence review.

Fiona Hill, a former White House adviser, said that Russia was “testing the limits” of Europe’s defences at a time when the military commitment of the US to Nato was uncertain.

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No 10 says Starmer found Mandelson’s emails to Epstein ‘reprehensible’ – UK politics live

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Despite being repeatedly asked, No 10 declines to say the PM was ‘misled’ by Mandelson

Stephen Doughty, a Foreign Office minister, is responding to the UQ about Peter Mandelson.

He starts by making the point that it is the anniversary of the “despicable” 9/11 terrorism attacks.

Keir Starmer must sack Peter Mandelson without further delay - and come clean about what he knew when, and whether he sanctioned blocking the publication of damaging material.

UK government documents shouldn’t be hidden from the public just because they are damaging to the Labour party - and by backing Peter Mandelson to the hilt, the prime minister’s own reputation is now on the line.

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Blackpool hospital neglect contributed to suicide of man who waited 22 hours for help, coroner rules

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Jamie Pearson killed himself in toilet at Blackpool Victoria hospital after being admitted over painkiller overdose

The death of a 27-year-old man who killed himself in a hospital toilet after waiting 22 hours to be seen by the mental health team was “contributed to by neglect”, a coroner has ruled.

Jamie Pearson was admitted to Blackpool Victoria hospital’s A&E department after taking an overdose of high-strength painkillers on 17 August 2024.

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Man held after suspected arson attack on office of Labour MP Sharon Hodgson

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Police investigate after images show roof of building destroyed in Washington, Tyne and Wear

A man in his 20s has been arrested by police after a suspected arson attack wrecked the constituency office of the Labour MP Sharon Hodgson.

There is little left of the first floor office in the Concord area of Washington, Tyne and Wear, after a fire that took place when it was unoccupied in the early hours of the morning.

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Nigel Farage urged to clarify whether he saved tax on Essex constituency home

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Labour and Lib Dems say Reform leader has questions to answer on who paid for £885,000 property owned by his partner

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have called for Nigel Farage to clarify whether he saved tax on a house in his constituency, after a BBC investigation questioned whether his partner did, as Farage has said, buy the home with her own money.

The Guardian first reported in May that the house in Clacton, which Farage initially said he had bought himself, is in fact wholly owned by Laure Ferrari, his long-term partner.

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Starmer and Cooper lead from the back as junior ministers take the Mandy flak | John Crace

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PM and foreign secretary were nowhere in sight as hapless Stephen Doughty faced the Commons over Peter Mandelson

If only there had been some kind of clue. The tiniest of hints that Peter Mandelson might not have been a suitable candidate to act as the UK ambassador in Washington.

Like being forced to resign from the cabinet over a failure to disclose a loan from Geoffrey Robinson. Like being forced to resign from the cabinet a second time over allegations of trying to procure a passport for the Hinduja brothers. Like his financial arrangements with the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Like his friendship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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More than half of UK births now involve medical intervention, audit finds

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Caesareans drive rise in assisted deliveries as experts warn of complex pregnancies linked to age, obesity and other conditions

More than half of women having a baby in Britain now do so with the help of medical intervention, an audit of NHS maternity care has revealed.

Of the 592,594 births that took place in 2023, 50.6% involved either a caesarean section or the use of instruments such as forceps or a ventouse suction cup.

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US drugmaker Merck scraps £1bn London research centre and cuts 125 science jobs

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New blow to UK’s key life science sector as industry body says country is losing ground on investment and research

The US drugmaker Merck has scrapped a £1bn London research centre and is laying off 125 scientists in the capital this year, in a big blow to the UK’s important life science sector.

Keir Starmer’s government has described life sciences as “one of the crown jewels of the UK economy” and the previous Conservative government had vowed to turn the country into a “global science and technology superpower” by 2030.

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Meeting with Keir Starmer was ‘tough’, says Israeli president

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Isaac Herzog says ‘when allies meet they can argue’ after some Labour MPs condemn Downing Street meeting

The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, had a “tough” set of exchanges over humanitarian aid in Gaza at a Downing Street meeting, amid street protests demanding Herzog’s arrest as a war criminal.

Herzog, speaking to the Chatham House thinktank immediately after the meeting, said he had offered the British government a fact-finding mission to look at the levels of aid entering Gaza. He denied there was any famine and blamed the high civilian death toll on Hamas placing missiles in living rooms.

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Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell set for two-horse race to be Labour deputy

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Education secretary and Manchester MP look destined for face-off as three other candidates struggle for MP nominations

Labour’s deputy leadership contest is set to be a race between the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, and the ousted cabinet minister Lucy Powell, as three other candidates in the race struggled to make nominations.

Phillipson comfortably cleared the hurdle of 80 nominations on Wednesday evening with backing from 116 MPs, but Powell was not yet at the threshold with 77 nominations.

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