Keir Starmer previously reassured that the war in Iran would not distract the UK from supporting Ukraine
Nigel Farage is speaking now at the Reform UK event.
The website promoting the lottery is up. It is called nigelcutmybills.com.
Continue reading...Margaret Hodge, who led report into arts funder, tells DCMS committee that grant recipients have lost confidence in the body
Arts Council England (ACE) requires a “radical” overhaul so that it is able to respond to the challenges of the culture sector, according to Margaret Hodge, who said if ACE leaders did not heed her warnings it would be a “disaster”.
The Labour peer, who led a wide-ranging and critical report into ACE, made the comments at a Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee, where she reiterated her calls for the organisation to embrace reform.
Continue reading...Chancellor says Brexit may have cost 8% of UK GDP in wide-ranging Mais lecture at Bayes Business School in London which also called for AI push
The number of people in England and Wales falling into insolvency has jumped.
There were 11,609 individual insolvencies registered in England and Wales in February, the Insolvency Service has reported this morning. This was 18% higher than in February 2025 and 6% higher than in January 2026.
The individual insolvencies consisted of 768 bankruptcies, 4,210 debt relief orders (DROs) and 6,631 individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs). The number of DROs in February 2026 was a record high in the monthly time series going back to their introduction in 2009, exceeding the previous high of 4,185 in August 2025.
The number of IVAs was higher than both January 2026 and the 2025 monthly average. Bankruptcies were 25% higher than in February 2025, although numbers were affected by the clearing of a backlog following the Insolvency Service moving to a new case management system.
Average 2-year fix has risen from 4.83% at the start of March to 5.28% today. It’s highest since April 2025.
Average 5-year fix has risen from 4.95% at the start of March to 5.32% today. It’s highest since February 2025.
“War in the Middle East has added almost £800 to a typical annual mortgage bill in just two weeks, which will be unwelcome news for anyone currently seeking a fixed rate deal.
“The average two-year fixed rate has jumped from 4.83% at the start of March to 5.28% today – its highest level since April 2025. The average five-year fix has risen from 4.95% to 5.32%, now at its highest since February 2025. For a borrower with a £250,000 mortgage over 25 years, that equates to paying £788 more per year on a two-year fix, or £651 more on a five-year deal compared to just a fortnight ago.
Continue reading...Carmaker reduces office-based roles and will not fill vacancies ‘to ensure long-term competitiveness of business’
Bentley is to cut 275 jobs in the UK as the carmaker faces a “challenging global market environment”.
The luxury brand, owned by Germany’s Volkswagen, is preparing to launch its first all-electric model but acknowledged it had some work to do to persuade consumers to switch away from internal combustion engine vehicles.
Continue reading...Britons learn about the country’s involvement ‘almost as a self-congratulatory narrative’, says historian Joseph Mulhern
In 1845 British citizens and companies were already legally prohibited from owning or buying enslaved people overseas, yet that year 385 captives were “transferred” to a British mining company in Brazil named St John d’El Rey.
Despite a global campaign waged by the UK against slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, the move was not technically illegal because the enslaved people were not sold but “rented” – a practice permitted overseas under the 1843 Slave Trade Act.
Continue reading...Refund systems for individual train operators to be merged into single service under nationalised rail body
Rail passengers will be able to claim compensation for delayed trains directly from the website where they bought their ticket, the government has said, as part of a shake-up to make rail travel simpler.
Passengers who use third-party retailers such as Trainline to buy tickets currently, have to submit applications for refunds to the relevant train operator for processing.
Continue reading...International researchers find ‘very little evidence’ medical form of the drug can treat anxiety, anorexia and other disorders
Cannabis is not an effective treatment for common mental health conditions despite the global surge in patients using it for that purpose, a review has found.
Researchers concluded there was “very little evidence for its efficacy” in treating anxiety, anorexia nervosa, psychotic disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder or opioid use disorder.
Continue reading...Health service in England has saved more than £14bn hiring from overseas, report says, as doubt is cast on aim to reduce international recruitment to 10%
Ministers’ plans to cut the international workforce within NHS England appear overambitious, MPs have said, as a report reveals the health service saved more than £14bn by recruiting doctors, nurses and midwives from overseas.
Many of the countries recruited from were struggling with staff shortages, and the UK had a moral duty to offer support, rather than simply extracting what it needed, the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on global health and security found.
Continue reading...Letter sent to Starmer claims ‘small number of peers have been using procedural tactics’ to stymie its progress
More than 100 Labour MPs have called on Keir Starmer to stop the House of Lords from blocking the assisted dying bill and give it more time to return to the Commons, with the legislation now certain to fall owing to lack of time.
The private member’s bill, sponsored by Labour’s Kim Leadbeater, will fall when the parliamentary session comes to an end in May because peers have used multiple amendments and lengthy debates to prevent it from being put to a vote.
Continue reading...Average arrears for housing, utilities and council tax for low-income households all rose last year
High levels of debt on essential bills have become the “new normal” for many low-income households, the charity StepChange said on Monday, with average arrears for housing, utilities and council tax all going up last year.
People’s budgets have been stretched in recent years as they have faced higher prices for many goods and services, and the crisis in the Middle East has led to concerns over a new wave of increases.
Continue reading...Charities Aid Foundation says giving no longer a ‘deeply embedded cultural norm’ amid rising cost of living
Britain is rapidly losing the charity habit, with public donations to good causes plummeting by more than £1.4bn last year and millions of people saying they can no longer afford – or do not want – to give, according to an analysis.
The Charities Aid Foundation (Caf) said in its annual report that, while the British remained generous at heart, society was witnessing a big transformation in attitudes towards charitable giving. Just half of people gave to charity in 2025, down from 61% a decade earlier.
Continue reading...Brand enlists JW Anderson to help brew up 17-piece range of luxury fashionwear, from ‘beer towel’ shorts to branded trousers and tops
You too can look like a pub carpet – and for the bargain price of £1,295. Such sartorial elegance – perhaps an option for anyone stepping out to celebrate St Patrick’s Day this week – is the aesthetic love-child of a partnership between Guinness and the luxury clothing brand JW Anderson.
The tie-up, launched earlier this month, allows fashionistas to get their hands on a range of Guinness wear that exploits the continuing metamorphosis of the “black stuff” from unfashionable pub staple to social media status symbol.
Continue reading...Advisers say to ‘assume the cameras are always rolling’ as exchanges can be decoded in seconds and posted online
Royals and celebrities are being warned by their representatives and advisers to watch what they say when they are out of the house – or palace – as a lip-reading phenomenon means videos can be posted online and translated in seconds.
Prince William was recently embroiled after a video of him speaking to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was translated by an expert lip-reader who was working as part of a forthcoming Channel 5 documentary, Lip-Reading the Royals.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Robin Birley closes in on Sunshine State venue as wealthy Britons flock to area around Donald Trump
A London private members’ club owner is closing in on a deal for a venue in Palm Beach, in the hopes of creating a rival to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago and to take advantage of an influx of wealthy British people to the Florida region.
Robin Birley is understood to be close to securing a property for his latest club, part financed by the billionaire Reuben brothers, who in 2024 were named the third-richest family in the UK by the Sunday Times Rich List.
Continue reading...Death comes two months after Alford was jailed for eight-and-a-half years for sexually assaulting two teenage girls
The actor John Alford has died in prison two months after being jailed for sexually assaulting two teenage girls.
Alford, 54, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years in January after he was found guilty of the assaults which occurred during a party at a friend’s home.
The actor, who appeared in the drama London’s Burning and BBC show Grange Hill, died at HMP Bure, Norfolk, on Friday, the Prison Service said.
Alford, who was tried under his real name, John Shannon, was convicted of four counts of sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl and charges of sexual assault and assault by penetration relating to a 15-year-old girl at a property in Hertfordshire in 2022.
Jurors heard during the trial that he had sexually assaulted the girls while they were drunk after a night out at the pub.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “John Shannon died in prison on March 13 2026.
“As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”
Met police says woman, 43, was detained after newborn girl in Westminster taken to hospital and pronounced dead
A woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder after an 18-day-old baby girl fell from a property in central London.
The Metropolitan police said officers attended Horseferry Road in Westminster after reports on Saturday morning that a baby had fallen from a residential property.
Continue reading...SNP leader hails prospect of success for parties in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland that want to break up union
The UK is facing an “absolutely seismic moment”, John Swinney has said, with the prospect of the election of first ministers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in May who are all committed to the break-up of the union.
Speaking at the Scottish National party’s campaign conference ahead of the Scottish parliament elections, the first minister told delegates: “For people watching around the world, there could be no clearer sign that Westminster’s time is up.”
Continue reading...Exclusive: Senior party figures conclude outsiders or existing senior staff deemed more suitable should take over from current permanent secretaries
A Reform UK government would expect to dismiss the top civil servant in every government department and replace them with people seen as more likely to implement the party’s priorities, the Guardian has learned.
Senior Reform figures have concluded that the current crop of permanent secretaries, the lead civil servant in each department, are not up to the necessary standard. Some would be replaced by outsiders, and others by existing officials viewed as more suitable.
Continue reading...Royal couple criticise Tom Bower’s ‘fixation’ on them and describe released extracts as ‘conspiracy and melodrama’
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have launched a scathing attack on a “deranged” author whose new book claims Queen Camilla once told a friend: “Meghan’s brainwashed Harry.”
The royal couple hit out at Tom Bower, the author of Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family, criticising his “fixation” on the pair.
Continue reading...High-net-worth residents of UAE heading to Ireland and France to wait out missile attacks before tax year ends
Wealthy UK nationals fleeing war in the Gulf are seeking sanctuary in countries such as Ireland and France to avoid hefty tax bills back home.
In the face of possible demands from HM Revenue and Customs, high-net-worth individuals who had been living in the United Arab Emirates and neighbouring countries are hoping to wait out the missile and drone attacks elsewhere rather than return to the UK.
Continue reading...