Engineers assess damage as heavy rains cause first major breach of Bridgewater canal since 1970s
Engineers are assessing the scale of damage to a canal built more than 250 years ago after flood waters caused a dramatic collapse of part of its elevated embankment in Cheshire.
The Bridgewater canal, which was previously used to transport coal but is now a leisure waterway, caved in near Dunham Massey, in the first major breach of the waterway for 54 years.
Continue reading...Electric Vehicles UK says hybrids without a plug should be banned or else confidence in electric cars will be damaged
Britain needs to press ahead with a ban on the sale of new hybrid cars with no plug from 2030 or risk taking “a catastrophic misstep” on the road to net zero, ministers have been warned.
Cars such as the Toyota Prius, which charge a battery from an internal combustion engine, need to be excluded from the list of vehicles sold in the UK from 2030 or there will be a “profound” fall in confidence in the government’s commitment to electric motoring, according to the representative body Electric Vehicles UK (EVUK).
Continue reading...Cost of average home in December reaches £269,426, with value increasing over year by almost £12,000
House prices rose for a fourth consecutive month in December, ending 2024 on a “strong footing”, Nationwide said, with the cost of an average home hitting £269,426.
The building society’s monthly tracker found prices in December rose 0.7% on the previous month and were up 4.7% on an annual basis.
Continue reading...Disruption expected as rain turns to snow, after major flooding incident declared in Greater Manchester
An ice warning is in force for much of the UK as temperatures have dropped, after a major incident was declared due to flooding.
The yellow Met Office warning indicates there could be some difficult travel conditions across Scotland, Northern Ireland and north Wales, and stretching down to the Midlands, until 10am on Thursday.
Continue reading...Previous government spent almost £1m trying to prevent release of documents in 56 legal cases
More than £50,000 of taxpayers’ money was spent on lawyers to try to prevent the release of a safeguarding review ordered after a disabled man starved to death in his own home.
The costs were part of a bill of nearly £1m spent under the last government to prevent the release of various documents under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act.
Continue reading...First building to open at Huddersfield’s National Health Innovation Centre is named after NHS’s first black matron
In a full-scale model of a house, a £50,000 mannequin that can breathe, blink and cough waits for the replica of an ambulance.
Eerily lifelike technology, some created by model makers who have made “bodies” for the BBC’s Silent Witness, is being used to tackle the scarcity of placement hours for healthcare students by combining real-world training with simulated settings, including virtual reality.
Continue reading...Society to retire plants no longer suited to UK’s changing climate after 14% fewer days of ground frost recorded
Fig and almond trees are thriving in Britain as a result of fewer frosts, the Royal Horticultural Society has said.
The lack of frost, one of the effects of climate breakdown, means plants used to warmer climes have been doing well in RHS gardens. Almond trees from the Mediterranean were planted at Wisley in Surrey several years ago, and without frost this year have fruited well for the first time.
Continue reading...Experts’ group employs new technologies and techniques to help relatives of those missing in the migration crisis
Four years ago, the remains of a toddler encased in a lifejacket and a navy snowsuit washed up on a beach in southern Norway, having spent the previous two months being carried on North Sea currents. Though his face was barely recognisable, publicity about the sinking of the migrant boat he had been travelling on, and suspicions about his identity, enabled Norwegian police to locate a relative to whom his DNA could be matched, providing this lonely corpse with a name: Artin Iran Nezhad.
Others remain nameless. Of the tens of thousands who die trying to reach Europe, only about a fifth are ever formally identified. For their relatives, this lack of closure is a continuing trauma. However, a recently established network of forensic scientists is trying to change this, through the development of new technologies and processes to aid identification efforts.
Continue reading...Experts say evidence from abroad shows AVR is effective – and it’s one of several proposals to try to boost voting
A healthy democracy depends on people participating in it. In the UK, the proportion of people doing so is falling. Voter turnout in general elections stayed above 70% from 1945 through to 1997, hitting more than 80% in 1950 and 1951. But it collapsed to 59.4% when Tony Blair won his second term in 2001, and though it rose again between 2010 and 2019, it has not reached the 70% mark since 1997. In the 2024 election, turnout fell to 59.7%.
The decline has been acute enough to trigger concern among Labour officials. Before July, the Guardian revealed they were drawing up plans to introduce automatic voter registration (AVR). In the election, when it came around, just 52% of adults living in the UK exercised their right to vote – the lowest proportion since universal suffrage was introduced. Crucially, this statistic counts all adults eligible to vote in the UK, not just those registered on the electoral roll.
Continue reading...IPPR says elections could lose legitimacy because of falling turnout among groups such as renters and non-graduates
UK elections are “close to a tipping point” where they lose legitimacy because of plummeting voter turnout among renters and non-graduates, an influential thinktank has said.
Analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that the gap in turnout between those with and without university degrees grew to 11 percentage points in the 2024 general election – double that of 2019.
Lowering the voting age to 16.
Implementing automatic voter registration.
Introducing a £100,000 annual cap on donations to political parties.
Creating an “election day service”.
Continue reading...The number of listed companies fleeing can’t be ignored – cutting or abolishing the tax could revive the capital market
Last year was another depressing one for departures from the London stock market. Back in January, it was Flutter heading for the exit. The owner of Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet got itself a secondary listing in the US and said it would quickly convert it into the primary one, which it did in May.
When December arrived, we were still on the same theme. Ashtead Group, the £27bn construction rental company that has been listed in London since 1986, announced plans to shift its primary listing to New York. Other escapers include Just Eat Takeaway, which is off to Amsterdam.
Continue reading...Exclusive: tenfold increase in drone incidents since 2020 leads MPs to call for urgent action over security concerns
Prisons will need more money to combat the rapid rise in drones delivering drugs, the head of an influential Commons committee has said, as figures showed the number of aerial incursions predicted to have tripled in two years.
A freedom of information request by the Guardian found there were 1,296 drone incidents at prisons in England and Wales in the 10 months to the end of October 2024, a tenfold increase since 2020.
Continue reading...Genetic analysis of Roman soldier or gladiator buried in York reveals 25% of his ancestry came from Scandinavia
People with Scandinavian ancestry were in Britain long before the Anglo-Saxons or the Vikings turned up, researchers have found after studying the genetics of an ancient Roman buried in York.
The arrival of the Anglo-Saxons brought an influx of Scandinavians to ancient Britain in the fifth century, with the first major Viking raid – which targeted the monastery at Lindisfarne – occurring in AD793.
Continue reading...Emergency services receiving reports of ‘damage, risk to life and stranded vehicles’
2025’s tempestuous start is also affecting Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
Both counties are seeing heavy rain and strong winds today with three “danger to life” weather warnings in place.
Continue reading...Revellers left disappointed after social media reports of display turn out to be a damp squib
Thousands of people gathered in the centre of Birmingham on New Year’s Eve despite a police warning that the announcement of a fireworks display was false.
Police and the city council had urged revellers not to travel after false reports there would be a spectacular show in Centenary Square.
Continue reading...Ex-security minister says assassination ordered by Trump set off chain of events that led to revolution in Syria
Donald Trump’s decision to sanction the assassination of an elite Iranian commander triggered a chain of events that has revealed Iran as a paper tiger and led to the overthrow of Basher al-Assad, a former UK security minister has said.
Tom Tugendhat, now on the Conservative backbenches and intending to focus on foreign policy, also predicted the Iranian regime would collapse in a few years. He said that if handled properly, Syria could become the economic powerhouse of the Middle East within a decade.
Continue reading...Average annual bill in England, Scotland and Wales increases by 1.2% to £1,738 from New Year’s Day
Nine million homes will face higher energy bills from Wednesday as Britain braces for freezing temperatures and snow warnings for the new year period.
The average energy bill for households across England, Scotland and Wales will rise by 1.2% from New Year’s Day to £1,738 a year for a typical household after the energy regulator raised its cap on gas and electricity charges.
Continue reading...Western European population has risen 25% with ban and some UK sites have seen promising increases
There are signs of hope for the turtle dove, one of the most endangered birds that has been plummeting towards extinction in Britain.
After a temporary ban on the annual shoot of the migratory birds as they pass through France, Spain and Portugal, which began in 2021, there has been a remarkable 25% increase in its western European population, which includes the 2,000 individuals clinging on in England.
Continue reading...Matthew Booth, from Bolton, is facing further time in jail after claims he has restarted a relationship with an ex
A Bolton man who is on the run after being recalled to prison indefinitely has made a direct plea to the justice secretary to intervene in his case.
Matthew Booth, 33, is wanted by police on recall to prison for a crime he committed when he was 15 and for which he has served a sentence.
Continue reading...Tens of thousands attend display in capital while much of the country faces issues with heavy rain and high winds
The UK has welcomed 2025 with fireworks and celebrations in London, but many events across the country were cancelled due to bad weather.
Tens of thousands of people attended the annual event in the capital, with millions more tuning in on television.
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