Category Archives: UK news

Nottinghamshire families left unaware of babies’ blood test results in second NHS error

Posted on by

About 300 families may not have been told whether children carry trait for genetic disorders such as sickle cell disease

Hundreds of families in Nottinghamshire have potentially been left unaware of whether their babies may be carriers of certain genetic blood disorders, the second such NHS error to come to light since the start of this year.

About 300 families whose children were born between 2004 and September 2024 in Bassetlaw and mid-Nottinghamshire were identified by the NHS as being affected.

Continue reading...

Ex-Royal Marine completes ‘world’s longest triathlon’ at Everest summit

Posted on by

Mitch Hutchcraft swam the Channel, cycled to India and ran to Nepal, covering 8,000 miles, to raise money for charity

A former Royal Marine has completed “the world’s longest triathlon”, which he started in the UK eight months ago and finished at the summit of Mount Everest.

Mitch Hutchcraft, from Cambridgeshire, travelled more than 13,000km (8,077 miles) in 240 days by swimming, cycling, running and trekking before reaching the world’s highest peak on Sunday.

Continue reading...

NHS nurses could go on strike in pursuit of 25% pay rise, union boss warns

Posted on by

Exclusive: RCN’s Nicola Ranger says nurses could ‘bare our teeth’ as they seek restoration of lost earnings

Nurses deserve a 25% pay rise and may go on strike again unless ministers dramatically improve their “completely unacceptable” 2.8% offer to NHS staff, the profession’s leader has said.

Prof Nicola Ranger, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said nurses wanted full restoration of lost earnings and could “bare our teeth” in pursuit of that goal.

Continue reading...

UK supermarkets suspend supplies from Lincolnshire pig farm over cruelty claims

Posted on by

Workers at farm owned by UK’s biggest pig meat producer Cranswick filmed killing piglets by banned ‘blunt force trauma’

• Warning: graphic content

Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons have suspended supplies from a Lincolnshire pig farm linked to abuse against pigs.

Secretly filmed footage has shown farm workers at Northmoor Farm appearing to grab piglets by their hind legs and smashing them on to the hard floor – a banned method of killing known as blunt force trauma or “piglet thumping”.

Continue reading...

Second man arrested in connection with death of man on UK cruise ship

Posted on by

Man, 56, from Richmond, London, detained on suspicion of manslaughter, after death of James Messham, 60, of West Sussex

A second man has been arrested in connection with the death of a 60-year-old man onboard a cruise ship.

James Messham, from Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, died after an “altercation” on the MSC Virtuosa as it was in British waters on Saturday 3 May during a short trip to Belgium.

Continue reading...

UK to time limit visas for roles below graduate level under new migration plan

Posted on by

Yvette Cooper to announce proposals to reduce net migration as government reacts to growing pressure from Reform UK

Visas for skilled overseas workers will be time-limited for those not taking a graduate-level job, the Home Office has announced.

The measure comes as part of a preview of wider plans being unveiled this week that are designed to reduce net migration to the UK.

Continue reading...

Danny Dyer says Harold Pinter’s death sent him into ‘spiral of madness’

Posted on by

Actor tells BBC about his relationship with the playwright, his ‘mentor’, and how he went ‘off the rails’

The actor Danny Dyer said the death of his mentor, the Nobel prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter, triggered a “spiral of madness” in his life.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Dyer reflected on how he had stayed at Pinter’s home while performing in his play Celebration. The play opened at London’s Almeida theatre in 2000, before transferring to the Lincoln Center in New York.

Continue reading...

Weight-loss jabs may be good for mental health, research shows

Posted on by

Swiss study finds wellbeing and life quality can be improved more than with insulin and other antidiabetic drugs

Weight loss jabs may be good for people’s mental health as well as helping curb their appetite, according to research.

A study by scientists from the University of Bern in Switzerland has found that appetite-suppressing injections also improve mood, wellbeing and quality of life more than insulin and other antidiabetic drugs.

Continue reading...

‘We share a history and the future’: diaspora communities in UK decry Kashmir conflict

Posted on by

At a demonstration in Westminster, people from both sides of India-Pakistan divide call for more than mere ceasefire

People around the world held their breath this week as India and Pakistan appeared to edge closer and closer towards war.

For diaspora communities with family in the region, especially in Kashmir and along the border between the two countries, recent days in particular have been filled with fear and anxiety.

Continue reading...

Police given second week to question four Iranian men in custody

Posted on by

Reports suggest four detained under Terrorism Act were allegedly targeting Israeli embassy

Four Iranian men who were arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack in London can be detained and questioned in custody for another week, police said on Saturday.

Five men were arrested last week, with armed police and in at least one instance special forces soldiers sent in to detain them, with reports suggesting the alleged target was the Israeli embassy in Kensington.

Continue reading...

Hampers, cufflinks … and a lot of alcohol: 20 gifts kept by Lindsay Hoyle

Posted on by

The wheels of diplomacy are oiled by the exchange of tokens – and plenty of booze, it seems

Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the House of Commons, has declared hundreds of gifts he received from foreign dignitaries and others since 2021. Here is a small selection of the items he kept.

1) Bottle of rum

Continue reading...

House of Commons speaker has kept almost 300 gifts over past four years

Posted on by

Lindsay Hoyle’s freebies include champagne, whisky, food hampers, skincare sets and presents for his pets

Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the House of Commons, has kept almost 300 gifts over the last four years including dozens of bottles of alcohol, hampers, ties, cufflinks and chocolates, his declarations show.

The speaker received a large volume of presents from foreign dignitaries such as ambassadors, MPs and sometimes companies and chose to keep hundreds of them rather than donating them to Speaker’s House – his residence and office – or parliament.

Continue reading...

UK Lawyers for Israel condemned over claim war may reduce obesity in Gaza

Posted on by

Palestinian rights group says remarks criticising a Lancet analysis on impact of the conflict are ‘sickening’

A UK-based advocacy group for Israel has been criticised for suggesting a reduction in obesity resulting from the war in Gaza may increase life expectancy there.

The comments by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), which came amid warnings of impending famine in Gaza, were condemned as “sickening” by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).

Continue reading...

Why did 30 Met officers kick the door down at a teenage tea and biscuits meeting in a Quaker house?

Posted on by

When six young women hired a room to discuss the war in Gaza, the gathering ended with 30 officers storming in to make arrests

When six young women gathered in central London to discuss the climate crisis and the war in Gaza, the setting could not have been more appropriate. The building in which they sat was a Quaker meeting house, the home of a movement whose centuries-long history is rooted in protest and a commitment to social justice. On the table were cups of jasmine tea, ginger biscuits and a selection of vegan cheese straws.

But the events that brought this apparently convivial gathering to an abrupt end have sparked protests of a different kind and raised questions about how justice is administered by the UK’s largest and most embattled police force.

Continue reading...

Ryanair’s £79 membership scheme takes off – but Which? says ‘think twice’

Posted on by

T&Cs show limitations to the promises of 12 free seat reservations, insurance and monthly access to a sale

Ryanair has become the latest low-cost airline to offer a yearly membership scheme that promises benefits such as free reserved seats and cheap flights – but the consumer group Which? says you should look at the small print before you join.

The low-cost carrier’s Prime membership costs £79 a person a year and promises 12 free seat reservations, travel insurance, and monthly access to a sale. However, the terms and conditions show a number of limitations.

Continue reading...

Aphids plaguing UK gardens in warm spring weather, says RHS

Posted on by

Sap-sucking insects top list of queries to gardening charity after causing significant harm to plants

Aphids are plaguing gardeners this spring due to the warm weather, with higher numbers of the rose-killing bugs expected to thrive in the UK as a result of climate breakdown.

The sap-sucking insects have topped the ranking of gardener queries to the Royal Horticultural Society, with many of its 600,000 members having complained of dozens of aphids on their acers, roses and honeysuckle plants.

Continue reading...

Paul McCartney and Dua Lipa among artists urging Starmer to rethink AI copyright plans

Posted on by

Hundreds of leading figures from UK creative industries urge prime minister not to ‘give our work away’

Hundreds of leading figures and organisations in the UK’s creative industries, including Coldplay, Paul McCartney, Dua Lipa, Ian McKellen and the Royal Shakespeare Company, have urged the prime minister to protect artists’ copyright and not “give our work away” at the behest of big tech.

In an open letter to Keir Starmer, a host of major artists claim creatives’ livelihoods are under threat as wrangling continues over a government plan to let artificial intelligence companies use copyright-protected work without permission.

Continue reading...

Giving weight loss jabs could bolster UK economy by £4.5bn a year, study says

Posted on by

Providing semaglutide for all those eligible may bring productivity gains as people are able to work more

Giving weight loss jabs to everyone eligible for them could boost the UK economy by £4.5bn, according to research.

Worldwide, about 3.8 billion people over 25 and just under 750 million children and young people are forecast to be overweight or obese by 2050. In England, 26.5% of adults are obese, while across the UK 4.6 million are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Continue reading...

Plan to fast-track appeals of some UK asylum seekers could face legal backlash

Posted on by

Move to speed up appeals of people in government-funded hotels could be challenged on discrimination grounds, officials warn

A plan to fast-track the appeals of asylum seekers living in government-funded hotels could face multiple legal challenges on the grounds of discrimination, the government has said.

A 24-week legal deadline on appeal decisions for those staying in hotel rooms is being introduced in an attempt to fulfil a Labour manifesto promise to end a practice that costs the taxpayer billions of pounds a year.

Continue reading...