North-east Atlantic mackerel in decline and Good Fish Guide says shoppers should look for other options
Mackerel stocks are nearing a “breaking point”, experts have said as the fish is downgraded as a sustainable option.
People should be eating herring instead, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said, because mackerel continues to be overfished by countries including Norway and the UK.
Continue reading...Alessandro Coatti described by former colleagues at Royal Society of Biology as ‘passionate and dedicated’
Tributes have been paid to a “passionate and dedicated” scientist after parts of his dismembered body were found in a suitcase in Colombia.
Alessandro Coatti, who worked at the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) in London, was discovered on the outskirts of Santa Marta, a port city on the Caribbean coast. The 42-year-old molecular biologist was travelling and conducting research in South America after working in London for eight years.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer hails visitor attraction – set to open in 2031 – as a way to bring jobs and growth to region
First Beijing, and now Bedford: a “transformative” new British tourist magnet is coming to the home counties – just off the A421.
A former brickworks will be the site of a new multibillion-pound theme park from the entertainment behemoth Universal, the government confirmed on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Tests ahead of Sunday’s race revealed E coli levels three times above the threshold for poor bathing water
Water quality along the stretch of the River Thames which will host the iconic Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race has been classified as poor by clean water campaigners, as a result of E coli from sewage pollution.
Testing carried out along the four-mile route, which the university rowing teams will tackle on Sunday, has revealed E coli levels which are three times above the threshold for poor bathing water status.
Continue reading...Whitehall sources say Starmer and Reeves aligned in seeing steel as of ‘huge strategic importance’
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are actively considering nationalising British Steel in an escalation of plans first revealed in the Guardian last year.
The prime minister said all options were on the table to secure the future of the Scunthorpe plant, which is owned by the Chinese firm Jingye and employs about 3,500 people.
Defended the welfare cuts as being based on “dignity” and criticised the Office for Budget Responsibility for not taking into account possible behavioural changes of people affected by the cuts when assessing the consequences of the policy.
Said threats from foreign powers targeting people in the UK were “growing” and the issue was constantly being raised in international talks. He added: “I think we generally underestimate that threat, and it’s very important we’re alive to it.”
Stepped up his criticism of regulators, telling MPs he was “astonished” by how many there were and saying he was “frustrated” by the barriers they put up.
Called for an inquiry into the killing of 15 aid workers in Gaza and said international law “underpins everything we do bilaterally and multilaterally” when questioned about the conflict in the Middle East.
Said he would speak to the intelligence agencies and the Kyiv government after Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukraine president, said two Chinese citizens had been captured fighting as part of the Russian army.
Said changes to the social care system could come as soon as next year amid a review led by Lady Louise Casey.
Continue reading...Kim Leadbeater says she is ‘absolutely confident’ postponement will not delay legislation reaching royal assent
The next vote on legislation to introduce assisted dying in England and Wales has been delayed by three weeks to give MPs on all sides more time to consider its changes, the MP leading the issue has said.
The bill, which has undergone a significant number of changes since the initial vote in November, will now return to the Commons on 16 May, instead of 25 April, for its report stage and votes if time allows.
Continue reading...Kerri Pegg, 42, of HMP Kirkham guilty of misconduct after inmate Anthony Saunderson gave her a Mercedes car
A prison governor has been found guilty of misconduct in a public office, after she started a relationship with a Liverpool drug gang boss nicknamed “Jesse Pinkman” after a character in the TV show Breaking Bad.
Kerri Pegg, 42, has been told she faces jail after she accepted a gift of a £12,000 Mercedes C-Class car, which Anthony Saunderson paid for with 34kg of amphetamines.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Algorithms allegedly being used to study data of thousands of people, in project critics say is ‘chilling and dystopian’
The UK government is developing a “murder prediction” programme which it hopes can use personal data of those known to the authorities to identify the people most likely to become killers.
Researchers are alleged to be using algorithms to analyse the information of thousands of people, including victims of crime, as they try to identify those at greatest risk of committing serious violent offences.
Continue reading...Chancellor also says fiscal rules will not be changed, saying ‘we saw what happened when the previous government lost control of the public finances’
Half of Britons (51%) think the government should impose retaliatory tariffs on imports from the US, according to polling by More in Common, a campaign group. Last week, just before the Trump tariffs were announced, YouGov published figures suggesting 71% of Britons would favour retaliatory tariffs against the US.
Yesterday YouGov also released polling suggesting that only around a third of voters think Keir Starmer and the government played a significant role in ensuring the US tariffs imposed on the UK are relatively low.
Continue reading...William Mitchell artwork saved but Blackheath community centre in which it was housed will be torn down
A rare piece of postwar art that was under threat of being demolished along with the south London building it was housed in has been saved.
The work, a mural by William Mitchell, was created for a community centre in Blackheath that is to be torn down to make way for social housing. The mural will now be preserved by Heritage of London Trust (Holt).
Continue reading...Bhim Kohli, who was walking his dog, was racially abused, kicked and punched in ‘gratuitous’ attack
Two teenagers have been found guilty at Leicester crown court of the manslaughter of Bhim Kohli after the 80-year-old was attacked in a park near Leicester in September.
A 15-year-old boy, who kicked, punched and racially abused the 80-year-old man while he was walking his dog in a park, has been found guilty of manslaughter.
Continue reading...Under-16s will be barred from using the app’s Live feature unless they have parental permission
Meta is expanding its safety measures for teenagers on Instagram with a block on livestreaming, as the social media company extends its under-18 safeguards to the Facebook and Messenger platforms.
Under-16s will be barred from using Instagram’s Live feature unless they have parental permission. They will also require parental permission to turn off a feature that blurs images containing suspected nudity in their direct messages.
Continue reading...PC Dion Arnold charged with four counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration and one of sexual assault
A serving Metropolitan police officer has been charged with multiple sexual offences including rape, the force has said.
PC Dion Arnold, attached to South West Command Unit, was charged on 31 March with four counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault after an investigation by Surrey police.
Continue reading...Ex-Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean says cut of 0.5 points needed because of ‘crazy situation’ in US
The Bank of England should use its meeting next month to cut interest rates by at least half a percentage point to 4% in response to the financial turmoil created by Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, the former deputy governor Charlie Bean has said.
He believes an aggressive strategy is needed to combat the fallout from Trump’s tariff war, which has knocked trillions of pounds off global stock markets, undermining business and consumer confidence.
Continue reading...Campaigners claim NI is being used as a ‘whipping boy’ to feed Irish republic’s energy-hungry datacentres
An ambitious €350m (£300m) plan to connect electricity grids across the island of Ireland is heading for the high court after a challenge brought by campaigners claiming Northern Ireland was being used as a “whipping boy” to feed the republic’s energy-hungry datacentres.
An estimated 150 landowners representing 6,500 residents have called on the Northern Ireland minister for infrastructure, Liz Kimmins, to suspend the construction of more than 100 towering pylons in Armagh and Tyrone until a judicial review, due to start on 9 April, has been completed.
Continue reading...Grace Davidson gives birth to baby Amy Isabel after receiving her sister’s womb in 2023
Surgeons are hailing an “astonishing” medical breakthrough as a woman became the first in the UK to give birth after a womb transplant.
Grace Davidson, 36, who was a teenager when diagnosed with a rare condition that meant she did not have a uterus, said she and her husband, Angus, 37, had been given “the greatest gift we could ever have asked for”.
Continue reading...Ministers and more than 70 MPs attended photo call with Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed whose travel ban was called unacceptable
Cabinet ministers and more than 70 parliamentarians staged a show of solidarity with two MPs who were detained and barred from entry to Israel in what was the first time British MPs had been banned from the country.
The health secretary, Wes Streeting, and the chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, joined the photocall in Westminster Hall on Monday with the MPs, along with Hamish Falconer and housing minister Rushanara Ali. It was organised by the Rochdale MP Paul Waugh.
Continue reading...Prime minister says ‘no one is pretending tariffs are good news’ during speech on car industry
In his Times article Keir Starmer describes the Trump tariffs as “the beginning of a new era”. He has been saying this at least since last Thursday, when he spoke about the tariffs at a Q&A with journalists at Labour’s local elections campaign launch. The speech this afternoon is being described as the PM’s most considered response so far to the global economic turmoil generated by the tariffs, but we have already heard quite a lot from Starmer on this topic already, in a Sunday Telegraph article yesterday and in No 10 briefings on the calls he had with world leaders about the situation over the weekend.
Is there a coherent strategy? On the basis of what he has said so far, there are at least five elements in the mix at the moment.
John Ryan is a local hero and we are truly humbled that he has publicly endorsed Reform UK ahead of May’s elections in Doncaster.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Richard Harpin pauses donations in move insiders say will result in closure of party’s northern HQ
One of the Conservatives’ biggest donors has stopped funding the party in a move insiders believe will result in the closure of its northern HQ, the Guardian can reveal.
Richard Harpin, the founder of the home repairs business HomeServe, has ended his donations to the Conservatives, according to two Tory sources.
Continue reading...Scott Chilton leaves post at Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary with immediate effect after notice from IOPC
The chief constable of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary has retired with immediate effect, on the same day he was given notice he was under investigation for two alleged workplace relationships.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it had notified Scott Chilton on Monday morning that he was under investigation for potential gross misconduct over a relationship from before he became chief constable and another after taking the force’s top job.
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