Category Archives: UK news

Jamaica to ask King Charles to refer issue of reparations for slavery to UK’s privy council

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Hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans were shipped to the Caribbean island when it was a colony of the UK

Jamaica will ask King Charles to request legal advice on the issue of slavery reparations from the judicial committee of the privy council, the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories and some Commonwealth nations.

Under the Judicial Committee Act of 1833, the king, who remains Jamaica’s head of state after the country gained independence from Britain in 1962, has the authority to refer matters to the council for consideration.

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Starmer aide Morgan McSweeney under fire after Labour welfare rebellion

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Backbenchers feel PM’s chief of staff missed strength of feeling over cuts – and there are deeper tensions at play

Being the prime minister’s right-hand man is a position of extraordinary power and privilege. But when things start to go wrong, you are directly in the line of fire. So has found Morgan McSweeney, the political mastermind credited with helping Keir Starmer win his election landslide, in recent days as the Labour party has collapsed into moral fury over planned welfare cuts.

The softly spoken Irishman, now Starmer’s chief of staff, has become the lightning rod for the frustration of many Labour rebels who backed a wrecking amendment designed to blow up the big welfare bill next week.

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Starmer confirms willingness to make concessions on welfare bill, saying reforms must be fair – UK politics live

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‘We want to see reform implemented with Labour values of fairness,’ the PM says

In his final answer Starmer explained how he thought government and business should work together.

A true partnership is not two people or two bodies trying to do the same thing. It’s two people or bodies realising they bring different things to the table.

Government shouldn’t try to run businesses. It’s done that in the past and it doesn’t work particularly well.

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Met officers’ strip-search of black girl at school was gross misconduct, panel finds

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Disciplinary hearing finds two police officers’ search of Child Q, 15, was disproportionate and humiliating

Two police officers who were involved in the strip-search of a black teenager at her school have been found to have committed gross misconduct.

The search at a school in Hackney, east London, was “disproportionate, inappropriate and unnecessary” and made the girl, known as Child Q, feel degraded and humiliated, a panel concluded at the end of a four-week misconduct hearing.

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Test developed to identify women at increased risk of miscarriage

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Study discovered abnormal process in womb lining, with potential for new treatments to prevent pregnancy loss

Scientists have developed a test to identify women with an increased risk of miscarriage, which could pave the way for new treatments to prevent pregnancy loss.

About one in six of all pregnancies are lost, most before 12 weeks, and each miscarriage increases the risk of another one happening.

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UK study shows 8% of children aged eight to 14 have viewed online pornography

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Ofcom says research shows need for stricter age checks being introduced in July, which most major sites have signed up to

Nearly one in 10 children aged eight to 14 have watched online pornography, according to the UK’s communications watchdog, as most adult content providers gear up to adopt stronger age checks ahead of a 25 July deadline.

Ofcom published research showing that 8% of children aged eight to 14 in the UK had visited an online pornography site or app over a month-long period. Boys aged 13 to 14 were the most likely viewers, with two out of 10 visiting adult sites.

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Al Pacino on how he got his Modigliani film off the ground after 30 years

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Exclusive: Actor talks of difficulties of getting ‘art film’ made about tortured artist, played by Riccardo Scamarcio

He is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, having made his name in the 1970s gangster classic The Godfather. Yet, despite his fame and Oscars recognition, Al Pacino struggled for 30 years to make a movie about one of the 20th century’s greatest artists because “art films” are “always difficult to get off the ground”.

He refused to give up on a drama about Amedeo Modigliani, a tortured genius who faced repeated rejection before his life was cut short in 1920 by tubercular meningitis, aged 35.

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Clothing prices rising in US as Trump tariffs kick in, H&M boss says

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Daniel Ervér cites ‘fast-moving situation’ as US administration has changed rules on several occasions

Clothing prices are beginning to rise in the US as Donald Trump’s tariffs on imported goods start to have an effect, according to the boss of H&M, one of the world’s biggest fashion retailers.

Daniel Ervér, the chief executive of the Swedish retailer, said: “In the US, we are starting to see some competitors increasing prices. Different competitors are acting in different ways. Some more aggressively and some more cautiously.”

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Shell has ‘no intention’ of making offer to buy BP after £60bn takeover rumours

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Statement to stock market follows media reports of early talks with BP to create a £200bn UK oil company

Shell has said it has “no intention” of making an offer for the rival fossil fuel company BP after speculation it had been planning a £60bn takeover, ruling out a formal approach for the next six months.

In an official statement to markets on Thursday, the company doubled down on the previous day’s denials that it was planning a bid, after media reports that it was in early talks with its competitor to create a £200bn UK oil supermajor.

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Northern Ireland nationalists fear focus on reconciliation stalling push for unity referendum

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Goal of reconciliation has become ‘undisguised unionist veto’, some argue amid dwindling momentum for vote

In Northern Ireland, it used to be the one goal that everyone could agree on: reconciliation. Whether the region stayed in the UK or united with Ireland, all sides acknowledged the need to heal wounds from the Troubles and to bridge differences between Catholics and Protestants.

Even those who riled the other side invoked reconciliation. How could they not? It was self-evidently a good thing.

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‘Intense’ novel about robot abused by her boyfriend/owner wins Arthur C Clarke science fiction award

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Annie Bot by Sierra Greer wins £2,025 for ‘compelling tale that, like all good stories about robots, is ultimately about the human condition’

A novel told from the perspective of a robot girlfriend has been named winner of the Arthur C Clarke award for science fiction.

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer is “a tightly focused first-person account of a robot designed to be the perfect companion, who struggles to become free,” said chair of judges, the academic Andrew M Butler. The speculative novel follows Annie, the narrator, programmed to cater to the needs of her boyfriend/owner Doug, who treats her in a way that would be abusive if she were human.

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Goldsmiths apologises to Jewish students and staff over ‘culture’ of antisemitism

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Inquiry concludes college’s management failed to help Jewish students ‘feel welcome and safe from antisemitism’

Goldsmiths College in London has apologised to Jewish students and staff after an independent inquiry found it had allowed a “culture” of antisemitism to build up on its campus over a number of years.

The inquiry concluded that Jewish students were subjected to antisemitism during their studies at Goldsmiths and that the college’s management failed to help Jewish students and potential applicants to “feel welcome, included and safe from antisemitism”.

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Scientists criticise cut in UK funding for global vaccination group

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Five-year £1.25bn pledge to Gavi is 40% cut in real terms, which experts say will cost lives in developing countries

The UK has cut its funding to a leading global vaccination group by a quarter, a move that experts say will directly lead to the avoidable deaths of many thousands of children in developing countries.

The Foreign Office billed the £1.25bn commitment over five years to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) as a major boost to the group’s work as well as to the UK’s status as a developer of vaccines. A series of aid agencies praised the decision.

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Man found guilty of murdering Daniel Anjorin, 14, with sword in London

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Marcus Arduini-Monzo convicted of killing schoolboy in Hainault, north-east London last year

A man has been found guilty of murdering a 14-year-old schoolboy with a samurai sword last year.

Marcus Arduini-Monzo, 37, carried out a marauding attack while in a state of cannabis-induced psychosis in Hainault, north-east London, on 30 April 2024, the Old Bailey heard.

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Briton accused of staging Disneyland mock wedding with child is charged with fraud offences in France

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Sex offender was arrested after alleged hiring of Disneyland Paris for fake ceremony with nine-year-old ‘bride’

A British sex offender accused of staging a mock wedding with a child at Disneyland Paris has been charged with money-laundering and fraud offences in France.

Jacky Jhaj, 39, who in 2016 was found guilty of sexual activity with two 15-year-olds, was arrested this weekend at Disneyland Paris after the theme park was hired for a private wedding. Staff are said to have called police when they saw that the “bride” in a wedding dress was a nine-year-old girl.

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Hull teenager becomes second Briton ever to join professional sumo stable

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Nicholas Tarasenko, 15, gets rare chance to break into professional sumo ranks after winning amateur tournaments and learning Japanese

A teenager from Hull has arrived in Japan to pursue his dream of becoming a grand champion sumo wrestler, as only the second Briton to win a place at one of the ancient sport’s professional stables.

Nicholas Tarasenko, 15, left Yorkshire for Japan straight after finishing his GCSEs, to become the first British hopeful to join a stable since Nathan Strange – a Londoner who fought under the ring name Hidenokuni – in 1989.

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Adults in Great Britain now spending more time on mobiles than watching TV

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Daily average for watching all types of screen is now almost 7.5 hours, annual survey for IPA finds

The amount of time adults in Great Britain spend using their mobile phones has finally overtaken that spent watching TV, according to a report that calculates the daily average for watching all types of screen is now almost 7.5 hours.

For the first time a typical person aged 15 or over spends longer each day on their mobile (three hours and 21 minutes) than on watching a traditional set (three hours and 16 minutes), the annual TouchPoints survey found.

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Autoimmune disease may almost double risk of mental ill health, study suggests

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Chronic exposure to inflammation may explain link to conditions including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, researchers say

Living with an autoimmune disease may almost double the risk of mental health conditions including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, a study suggests.

The link may be explained by the chronic exposure to systemic inflammation that the autoimmune disease causes, researchers at the University of Edinburgh said.

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Five members of biggest British Jewish body suspended over Israel criticisms

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Elected representatives of Board of Deputies were among signatories of open letter objecting to actions in Gaza Strip

Five elected representatives to the largest body representing British Jews have been suspended for two years after criticising the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza.

All 36 signatories to an open letter published in April have been found to have breached the Board of Deputies’ code of conduct after a two-month investigation.

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Widespread Labour dissent over welfare bill is sign things are going very badly for Starmer

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Prime minister deployed ministers to contain rebellion after more than 100 Labour MPs signed amendment to bill

When a prime minister is forced to deploy his cabinet to try to contain a rebellion, it is not a sign that things are going well. For one with a working majority of 165 MPs, it suggests that things are, in fact, going very badly.

This was the scenario Keir Starmer faced on Tuesday after more than 100 Labour MPs signed an amendment to his welfare bill which could blow up his attempts to reform the disability benefits system.

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