May figure second highest for month on record amid fears chancellor is struggling to keep within spending rules
Higher tax receipts were unable to prevent a rise in public sector borrowing in May to £17.7bn, up from £17bn a year earlier and the second highest for the month on record.
A poll of City economists had forecast public sector net borrowing – the difference between public spending and income – would be £17.1bn.
Continue reading...In 1992 letter, Mustapha Matura warned of risk to Ladbroke Grove, home to strong Caribbean creative community
A groundbreaking Trinidadian-British playwright who paved the way for modern Black British theatre makers warned about the dangers of gentrification in Ladbroke Grove, which he believed would ruin the “writer’s paradise”.
Mustapha Matura was the first British writer of colour to have work put on in the West End, and used the west London area as an inspiration for many of his plays, which were also staged at the Royal Court and National Theatre.
Continue reading...Claim comes in legal exchange with advocacy group ahead of judicial review of decision to slash support to 0.3% of gross national income
Cuts of £5bn to the UK overseas aid budget cannot be challenged in the courts, government lawyers have said, even though ministers have no plan to return spending to the legal commitment of 0.7 % of UK gross national income (GNI).
The assertion by Treasury solicitors that ministers are immune from legal challenge over aid cuts comes in preliminary exchanges with the aid advocacy group One Campaign. It is the first step in what could prove a highly embarrassing judicial review.
Continue reading...Student Loans Company figures show 10% jump in a year as individuals increase borrowing to meet cost of living
Students in England are finishing their degrees with government loans averaging £53,000, a jump of 10% in a year, as they increase their borrowing to meet the rising cost of living.
The Student Loans Company (SLC) has released figures showing individual loan balances were £5,000 higher in 2024-25 than a year earlier, when the average in England was £48,270.
Continue reading...Exclusive: first store opens in Spinningfields, Manchester, two weeks before band’s first gig in 16 years in Cardiff
Will the truce between the Gallagher brothers hold out? Will the most-hyped reunion in British rock history actually come off? And will fans be able to bag themselves an official Oasis tea towel?
The answer to that final question, at least, has arrived. The first Oasis merchandise store will open in Manchester on Friday, two weeks before the band perform their first gig in 16 years at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
Continue reading...Two survivors urged politicians and those without experience of abuse to allow women to shape the investigation
Campaigners from trade unions, voluntary organisations and the Church of Scotland have announced plans for an anti-poverty march to “demand better” from politicians in Scotland, reports the PA news agency.
The campaign, Scotland Demands Better, will culminate in a march in Edinburgh on 25 October, walking from the Scottish parliament, up the Royal Mile and along George IV Bridge to The Meadows.
Change for the better happens when people stand together and demand it. Scotland desperately needs that change.
Too many of us are being cut off from life’s essentials. Too many are frightened of what the future will bring. Too many of us are feeling tired, angry, isolated, and disillusioned.
Air pollution remains the most important environmental threat to health, with impacts throughout the life course.
It is an area of health where the UK has made substantial progress in the last three decades, with concentrations of many of the main pollutants falling rapidly, but it remains a major cause of chronic ill health as well as premature mortality.
Continue reading...UKHSA warns of risk to people aged 65 and over as temperatures of up to 33C expected until Monday
Amber heat alerts have been issued in England as the UK experiences its hottest day of the year so far, with a temperature of 30.8C recorded at Wisley in Surrey.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued the warningd on Thursday, and stated there could be “a rise in deaths” across all nine English regions, with “those aged 65 and over or people with health conditions” particularly at risk as the temperature is expected to rise sharply.
Continue reading...Zak Starkey says his father made the comment after he was fired over a disagreement about his performance
Ringo Starr has reportedly criticised the way “that little man” Roger Daltrey runs the Who after Starr’s son was sacked from the band.
Zak Starkey, 59, who was sacked as the Who’s drummer over a disagreement about his performance, said he was proud that his father had come to his defence.
Continue reading...London student drugged and filmed himself raping at least 60 victims between 2019 and 2024
A PhD student feared to be one of the worst sexual offenders in British history has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years for drugging and raping 10 women.
Zhenhao Zou, 28, drugged and filmed himself raping at least 60 victims between 2019 and 2024 after luring them into his flat with invitations to study or have drinks. Since his conviction more than 20 women have come forward to police, and still more remain unidentified.
Continue reading...Call for root-and-branch reform of treatment of children, many of whom are wrongly classified as adults
Decisions relating to lone child asylum seekers should be removed from Home Office officials because of fundamental problems with the way they treat this vulnerable group, a report has found.
The report calls for root-and-branch reform of the treatment of thousands of children who have fled persecution in their home countries and made hazardous journeys in search of safety, often crossing the Channel in a dinghy or concealing themselves in the back of a lorry.
Continue reading...Calls follow news that attorney general advised government to limit its involvement to defending allies
Ministers are facing calls to publish legal advice given to the government on Israel’s war against Iran after reports emerged that the attorney general had warned that any UK involvement beyond defensive support would be illegal.
Richard Hermer, the government’s most senior legal officer, is said to have raised concerns internally about the legality of joining a bombing campaign against Iran.
Continue reading...ASA report finds many use negative stereotypes and highlights concerns about targeting of end-of-life services
An elderly man fires off a tirade at a child who has asked “grandad” to return a mud-covered football that has landed on his gleaming car. He is then seen eating a microwave dinner for one and chuckling, with the now-deflated ball pinned to the table next to him by a large kitchen knife.
The TV advert for the Scotland-based Strathmore Foods, maker of the McIntosh of Strathmore ready meals stocked by most big supermarket chains, has been identified in a report by the UK advertising watchdog as showing an “offensive” portrayal of older people – by stereotyping them as grumpy and intolerant, and implying many are lonely and isolated.
Continue reading...Office for Students guidance urges ‘very strong’ approach to permitting lawful speech on campus
Universities in England will no longer be able to enforce blanket bans on student protests under sweeping new guidance that urges a “very strong” approach to permitting lawful speech on campus.
The detailed regulations set out for the first time how universities should deal with inflammatory disputes, such as those between the University of Cambridge and students over the war in Gaza, and rows over academics who hold controversial but legal opinions, such as the gender-critical professor Kathleen Stock.
The guidance issued by the Office for Students (OfS) will make it harder for universities to penalise students and staff for anything other than unlawful speech or harassment.
Academics should not be pressed to support particular views.
Protests should not be restricted for supporting legal viewpoints.
Students or staff should not be “encouraged to report others” for lawful speech.
Universities must “secure freedom of speech” for visiting speakers.
Continue reading...Volatile weather patterns may be altering taste of juniper berries – a key botanical in the spirit – scientists say
The flavour of a gin and tonic may be impacted by climate change, scientists have found.
Volatile weather patterns, made more likely by climate breakdown, could change the taste of juniper berries, which are the key botanical that give gin its distinctive taste.
Continue reading...Campaign group accuses Holyrood of ‘intolerable’ delays to new policies required after landmark case
The Scottish government has been given a deadline to implement the UK supreme court’s ruling on biological sex across all public bodies or face further legal challenges.
Sex Matters, the UK-wide gender-critical campaign group, has threatened legal action in 14 days if ministers continue “intolerable” delays to new policies and guidance required by April’s landmark ruling that the legal definition of a woman in the Equality Act 2010 does not include transgender women who hold gender recognition certificates.
Continue reading...Head of monitoring boards urges justice secretary to suspend rollout of Pava in England and Wales
The rollout of synthetic pepper spray for use to incapacitate jailed children is “wholly irresponsible” while black and minority prisoners are more likely to be subjected to force than white inmates, a watchdog has said.
Elisabeth Davies, the national chair of the Independent Monitoring Boards, whose members operate in every prison in England and Wales, said the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, should pause the use of Pava spray in youth offending institutions (YOIs) until ministers had addressed the disproportionate use of force on minority prisoners.
Continue reading...Labour MPs fighting Reform want action and a European renegotiation looks unappealing. How would the PM sell a third way?
Can a lefty human rights lawyer be the one to take on Britain’s uneasy relationship with the European convention on human rights (ECHR)?
It is the most unlikely of causes for Keir Starmer. But there is a growing feeling in government that he should seize the initiative.
Continue reading...Yvonne Ford, from Barnsley, had contact with stray animal while on holiday, UK Health Security Agency says
A woman from Yorkshire has died from rabies after contact with a stray dog while on holiday in Morocco, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.
Yvonne Ford, from Barnsley in South Yorkshire, was diagnosed in Yorkshire and Humber after returning from the north African country in February.
Continue reading...Deputy prime minister takes PMQs facing shadow home secretary
Angela Rayner, the deputy PM, will be taking PMQs shortly. And she will be up against Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary.
When Kemi Badenoch became Tory leader, she did not appoint a deputy (or even a “de factor deputy”, a post that has existed in Tory politics in recent years) and she said she would decide who would stand in for her at PMQs on a case by case basis. Alex Burghart, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, got the gig the first time Starmer was away.
Chris Philp follows Alex Burghart in rotating for Kemi Badenoch at PMQs. One Westminster wag asks “When is it going to be Robert Jenrick’s turn?”
We have this profound challenge of the number of people joining the armed forces being outweighed by the outflow the people leaving. So ultimately its about retention.
And the number one issue reason cited in last month’s attitude survey for the armed forces for leaving was family life. We know the quality of housing is unfortunately poor. It’s due to the basically to the structural nature of those homes.
To wrap up this topic, the state of housing for the armed forces is in a poor state because your government did not do enough for it?
[The housing] which is not in a good enough state because of your government?
What did I do about it? I did something that hasn’t been done for 30 years – yes, it completed under Labour – and now we would recommend to the government, when they bring forth their housing defence white paper, that we set up a housing association.
Continue reading...Judge says not discrimination to refuse to hire people from ‘hostile’ states like China and Russia if it may pose risk to British security
Refusing to give a job to Chinese and Russian people in companies that deal with issues of national security and require security clearance is not racist, an employment tribunal has ruled.
It is not discriminatory to stop people from “hostile” states taking up certain jobs in the defence sector because of the risk to British security, the judgment says.
Continue reading...