Poetry of Byron borrowed by schoolboy Leonard Ewbank, who studied at Oxford and was killed at Ypres in 1916
A book borrowed from a school library before the first world war has finally been returned – more than a century overdue.
A copy of Poetry of Byron was found by a man in Carmarthenshire, south Wales, who felt it should be returned to St Bees School, near Whitehaven, Cumbria, where it had been lent out to a schoolboy.
Continue reading...Ministers heralded ‘record-breaking’ £63bn total at London event but £16.5bn appears to have preceded July election
About a quarter of the investment announced by the government at its summit this week appears to have been secured or initiated before Labour came to power.
Ministers touted £63bn of investment at the summit on Monday, where they hosted hundreds of company bosses in a showcase of the UK’s pro-growth policies.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Lack of formal oversight means anyone can set up in practice and continue to work after misconduct cases, campaigners say
Ministers face calls for the urgent regulation of psychotherapists and counsellors to protect vulnerable people, as lawyers report a rise in lawsuits by patients for alleged harm done during therapy.
Unlike most other healthcare roles, including doctors, midwives and osteopaths, “psychotherapist” and “counsellor” are not protected titles nor statutorily regulated professions in the UK.
Continue reading...Sarah says she would have found it easier to file a complaint had therapy been better regulated
Sarah* moved across the country to a new town in her late 30s after fleeing a decade-long abusive marriage. Struggling to make friends and fill her lonely evenings, she joined a church choir – something that quickly became her only source of joy.
Her new GP had diagnosed her with depression and she started to see a female therapist. But when she failed to see noticeable improvement, she decided to take up the offer of help from her charismatic choirmaster, who told her he was a qualified counsellor.
Continue reading...In the age of influencer therapists and mental health apps, experts say the public need to be better informed
From influencer therapists on social media to psychotherapy platforms advertising on TV and radio, going to see a therapist is increasingly mainstream – yet many people know little about who they are seeing and what they are getting.
Experts said more information and awareness among the public of how therapy works was desperately needed, to minimise the risks of making their mental health worse.
Continue reading...World Without End topped bestseller lists but was criticised for embracing nuclear power
In 2019, France’s best known climate expert sat down to work with its most feted graphic novelist. The result? Perhaps the most terrifying comic ever drawn.
Part history, part analysis, part vision for the future, World Without End weaves the story of humanity’s rapacious appetite for fossil fuel energy, how it has made possible the society people take for granted, and its disastrous effects on the climate.
Continue reading...Carriages for controversial high-speed line focus on passenger comfort, innovations and headroom, mock-ups reveal
For now, it remains unclear quite how far any passenger will travel on future HS2 services – whether reaching Euston or on high-speed tracks all the way to Crewe. But however short the journey, an exclusive peek at HS2’s embryonic carriages reveals travellers will be enthroned in “the best seats of any UK trains” – even, arguably, in the toilets.
Conscious of discontent with the “ironing board” seats in some of the newest trains introduced to Britain’s railways, HS2 are putting passengers’ backs and bottoms centre stage.
Continue reading...Detective says he grabbed 23-year-old Daniel Khalife on a canal towpath in west London
A former soldier “congratulated” the police officer who captured him three days after he was accused of escaping from prison, a jury has heard.
Woolwich crown court on Friday heard evidence from the Metropolitan police officer, who said he grabbed hold of Daniel Khalife on a canal towpath in west London.
Continue reading...Andrew Talbot took drugs from a Greater Manchester police evidence store and supplied them to criminals
A cocaine-addicted detective who stole drugs with a retail value of almost £400,000 from a police evidence store and supplied them to criminals has been jailed for 19 years.
Andrew Talbot, formerly a Greater Manchester police (GMP) detective constable, conspired with convicted drug dealer Keith Bretherton, 50, to sell the stolen cocaine, Liverpool Crown Court heard.
Continue reading...Law firm advises company to review use of non-disclosure agreements after allegations about their use
ITN has faced criticism from senior journalists and staff after a report on how it deals with internal complaints raised concerns about “low trust and psychological safety”.
The media company has been told to review its use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and improve its whistleblowing processes after allegations that it used NDAs to cover up gender pay discrimination, harassment and bullying.
Continue reading...Whitehall source says it would only allow NHS to ‘stand still’ on waiting lists rather than reduce them
The NHS is set to get an inflation-busting 4% rise in its budget next year but health chiefs have said it may not allow them to cut waiting lists for another 18 months, the Guardian has learned.
The health service is on course to be one of the big winners in Rachel Reeves’s spending review on 30 October if it gets a proposed 4% real-terms uplift from the Treasury.
Continue reading...Policy known as ‘fiscal drag’ could bring in as much as £7bn a year after 2028, while dragging workers into paying more tax
Rachel Reeves is expected to extend a “stealth” freeze on income tax thresholds beyond the 2028 deadline set by the previous Conservative government to raise billions of pounds in the budget.
The chancellor is contemplating the move, first reported by the Financial Times, as she seeks tax-raising measures to plug a £40bn shortfall in the public finances that Labour claims was left by the Conservatives.
Continue reading...Mohamed Iidow attacked Natalie Shotter after she apparently passed out in park in Southall after night out
A man has been convicted of the rape and manslaughter of a woman while she lay unconscious on a park bench in west London after a night out.
Natalie Shotter, 37, an NHS worker, was attacked after apparently passing out in Southall in July 2021. Mohamed Iidow orally raped her “until she died”, his trial heard.
Continue reading...Nurse says she has lost ‘my name, my integrity’ after being accused of using proxy to sit tests to work in Britain
When I was a little girl in my village in Nigeria going to school was something I could not even dream of because we did not have money. Then my mother sold everything we owned to pay for me to go to school.
I knew this was my only ticket to make something worthwhile out of my life and my family’s life.
Continue reading...Ward’s body was found at her home and Ahmed Abdirahman was arrested in Dublin
A man has appeared in a Dublin court charged with the murder of Mary Ward in Belfast.
The 22-year-old was found dead at her home on 1 October with neck wounds. Her body was found after police officers went to her house, but she was last seen alive on 25 September, according to police.
Continue reading...Hopeful Republicans are calling it the ‘farewell tour’, as the king toes the tried and tested constitutional line
As the king arrives in Australia for the first time as head of state, republican rumblings are once more on the media radar.
Will it be, as the Australian Republic Movement (ARM) optimistically opines, the monarchy’s “farewell tour”?
Continue reading...Amid a downpour at Sydney airport, the monarch arrives with Queen Camilla for a five-day visit
Minutes after a drenching downpour came to an end at Sydney airport, King Charles and Queen Camilla stepped on to Australian soil for their first visit as reigning monarchs.
The five-day trip is the couple’s first Australian visit since the King ascended to the throne in 2022 and the first by a reigning monarch since his mother Queen Elizabeth toured the country in 2011.
Continue reading...French authorities say 65 people rescued after overloaded boat sinks off coast of Wissant
A baby died after a boat carrying people in the Channel towards Britain capsized off the French coast, local coastguards have said.
Sixty-five people were rescued after the overloaded boat started to sink off the coast of Wissant, in northern France, on Thursday night. Some people were in the water when rescuers arrived. An unconscious baby found in the water was later declared dead.
Continue reading...Rachel Reeves is to seek advice from City experts to ensure big projects’ value for money and reassure markets
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is taking action to ensure her budget plan for a multibillion-pound increase in government borrowing to fund infrastructure projects avoids a Liz Truss-style meltdown in financial markets.
Ahead of her tax and spending event on 30 October, the chancellor is convening on Friday the first meeting of a taskforce of leading City figures to advise on infrastructure projects. The government will also launch a watchdog to oversee public works and ensure value for money for the taxpayer.
Continue reading...Research is one of 11 projects part of a £12m government plan to reduce drug overdoses with new technology
Researchers are building a virtual reality world to help people overcome their cocaine addiction by repeatedly exposing them to tempting scenarios in a safe environment.
The project draws on the experiences of drug users to create tailored 3D experiences, such as being alone in a flat or at a party with friends, where people can be immersed via a VR headset in realistic situations that trigger the urge to take drugs.
Continue reading...