Category Archives: UK news

Waiter! Soho’s cafe society confused after law changes on tipping

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Staff should now receive every penny paid in tips – including service charges

Whoever said it’s better to give than to receive wasn’t talking about tipping. Waiters around the UK should be starting to receive a £200m-a-year bonanza thanks to a new law that means every penny paid in tips, including service charges, on a restaurant bill will have to go to staff.

Yet exactly how much of the money will end up in servers’ pockets is unclear. The law was changed because some restaurants took service charges as part of their profits or to pay for overheads such as lighting.

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UK ‘resolutely committed’ to its overseas territories, says foreign minister

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Stephen Doughty’s remarks come as Argentina vows to gain ‘full sovereignty’ of Falkland Islands

The UK is “resolutely committed” to all of its overseas territories, the responsible foreign minister said, after Argentina vowed to gain “full sovereignty” of the Falkland Islands.

Stephen Doughty said on Saturday that the sovereignty of the territories is “not up for negotiation”.

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Assisted dying supporters court Tories to bolster cross-party appeal

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After all four would-be leaders spoke against law change, both sides seek to sway waverers

Supporters of an assisted dying law in England and Wales are ­battling to stop the issue from splitting along party political lines after all four Tory leadership candidates ­suggested they would vote against the historic change.

An all-important House of Commons vote on the issue could now be just weeks away after it was revealed that Labour MP Kim Leadbeater would be introducing a private member’s bill that would give some terminally ill adults the option of being helped to end their lives.

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Faith leaders unite to reject prejudice on eve of 7 October anniversary

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Muslim and Jewish figures join archbishop in first act of high-level solidarity

Muslim and Jewish leaders today unite around an unprecedented joint statement calling the assaults on Israel on 7 October last year “brutal Hamas terrorist attacks” that led to a “devastating war in Gaza and beyond” which together have caused “horrific” human suffering.

Joined by the archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in the first high-level act of inter-faith solidarity in the year-long conflict, they say in a letter to the Observer: “Our faiths and our humanity teach us that we should mourn for all the innocent people who have lost their lives.

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Wealthy, white and rightwing: the Tory members holding the party’s future in their hands

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The electorate for the Conservative leadership contest likes a winner, but lately has had trouble picking one

The Conservative party is more than just 121 MPs. It’s also tens of thousands of ordinary members. The £39 a year they pay to belong might not entitle them to any real say on the party’s policies, but it does give them the right to help select its candidates and, even better, its leader.

Quite how many individual blades make up the Tory grassroots these days, we won’t know until we learn the result of the membership ballot, which starts on 31 October. In 2019, when Johnson was elected leader, it came in at 159,000. And in 2022, when Liz Truss got the nod, it had actually risen to 172,000. But that was considerably down on the 254,000 who got to choose between Davids Cameron and Davis back in 2005 and way off the 2.8 million members that the party claimed to have at its postwar peak in the mid-1950s.

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Child ‘trampled’ to death among fatalities on Channel boat, says French minister

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Young child reportedly found on overcrowded boat trying to cross Channel, hours after G7 countries agree plan to combat smuggling gangs

A two-year-old child was crushed to death and three other people died in two attempts to cross the Channel from France on Saturday.

French authorities said the infant died after being trampled following a “wave of panic” among migrants trying to board a dinghy.

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Families lay wreaths to mark 25 years since Ladbroke Grove rail crash

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Collision of two trains in west London killed 31 people and was one of worst rail disasters in recent UK history

Families bereaved by the Ladbroke Grove rail disaster have laid flowers to remember those killed, and to recognise those who came to their aid, 25 years since the crash that killed 31 people.

The disaster, one of the most catastrophic rail incidents in recent UK history, also left more than 220 injured. A rush-hour train collided almost head-on with a high-speed train about 2 miles from Paddington station in west London, shortly after 8am on 5 October 1999.

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Lancashire police apologise after XL bully put down due to ‘administration error’

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Seized dog, named Bruno, euthanised while owners were applying for exemption to keep him

Lancashire police has apologised after putting down an XL bully dog while the owners were in the process of applying for an exemption to keep him.

The seized dog, named Bruno, was euthanised due to an “administration error”.

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Ian Hislop laughs off taxi ‘shooting’ incident on Have I Got News For You

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Private Eye host says police asked if anyone ‘might have a grudge’ against him after window shattered on London cab

The Private Eye editor, Ian Hislop, has laughed off an incident in which the window of a taxi he was travelling in was shattered by what was initially believed to be a gunshot.

Hislop, 64, offered a lighthearted response to the incident on Friday’s edition of Have I Got News For You on the BBC.

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Donald Glover cancels Childish Gambino tour dates because of ‘ailment’

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American musician and actor will not play his UK and Ireland dates as he recovers from scheduled surgery

Donald Glover has cancelled the remaining dates on his Childish Gambino tour after scheduling surgery for an “ailment”.

The American actor, rapper and singer was due to head to the UK in November and early December to perform in Manchester, Glasgow, London and Birmingham, as well as Dublin in Ireland. Glover had already postponed the remainder of his North American tour to focus on his “physical health”.

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England urged to bring in minimum unit price on alcohol as deaths rise 10% a year

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Health leaders tell government to follow Scotland and Wales on cost of cheap booze after Darzi report on death toll

Ministers are facing pressure to ­introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol after Lord Darzi’s investigation into the NHS highlighted the “alarming” death toll in England caused by cheap drink.

Public health leaders are this weekend calling for urgent action to increase the price of cheap alcohol in supermarkets and off-licences. A two-litre bottle of cider can be bought in England for under £2, which equates to 22p per unit of alcohol.

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Merseyside police searching for man missing with his baby son

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Adam Skindzier, 44, from Netherton area of Merseyside, last seen with six-month-old Nathan on Friday afternoon

Police are searching for a 44-year-old man who has gone missing with his six-month-old son.

Adam Skindzier, who is from the Netherton in Merseyside, was last seen with his son, Nathan, at about 4pm on Friday, police said. Skindzier, who is Polish, is believed to be driving a black Mercedes.

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UK charters another flight from Lebanon and urges Britons to leave

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Foreign secretary and PM call on nationals and their dependants to evacuate on Sunday’s flight, the last one scheduled for now

A new flight has been chartered by the UK government for British nationals to leave Lebanon on Sunday, amid the growing conflict in the region.

More than 250 UK citizens have left Lebanon on government-chartered flights amid the conflict, the Foreign Office said. The UK chartered a fourth flight to leave Beirut-Rafic Hariri airport in Beirut on Sunday.

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Sky News pulls out of Boris Johnson interview over recording ban

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Beth Rigby’s withdrawal after not being allowed to record conversation follows BBC cancellation over notes gaffe

Sky News has pulled out of an interview with Boris Johnson after its political editor, Beth Rigby, was told she could not make an audio recording or transcript of the talk.

The former prime minister had promised to “reveal what really happened during my time as [London] mayor, foreign secretary and PM” during the conversation next week as he promotes his memoir Unleashed. Johnson’s interview with the BBC was dropped earlier this week after the presenter Laura Kuenssberg mistakenly sent him her briefing notes.

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Naomi Campbell admits failures at fashion charity but denies misconduct

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Campbell ‘accepts her accountability’, says spokesperson after watchdog’s scathing report about Fashion for Relief

Naomi Campbell has admitted she failed in her duties as a trustee at the Fashion for Relief charity she founded – but has insisted she never engaged in financial misconduct or used the charity for personal gain during its chaotic nine-year existence.

Campbell was last week banned from running a charity for five years after a scathing report found she and her two fellow trustees were culpable for multiple incidents of serious misconduct and financial mismanagement.

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Starmer defends UK ceding control of Chagos Islands amid Tory criticism

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PM says deal has secured future of US-UK military base as Conservative leadership hopefuls play blame game

Keir Starmer has defended giving up UK control of the Chagos Islands, as the decision has descended into a political blame game among Conservative leadership candidates.

The prime minister said the agreement with Mauritius over the islands would secure the long-term future of a joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia, which he deemed as the “single most important thing”.

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Police officer charged after death of woman, 81, in collision with royal escort

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Helen Holland killed last year in collision with motorcycle that was part of escort for Duchess of Edinburgh

A police officer has been charged over the death of an 81-year-old woman who was killed in a collision with a motorcycle that was part of an escort for the Duchess of Edinburgh.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Friday it had charged Christopher Harrison, 67, with causing death by careless driving following a review of the evidence provided by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

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Royal Navy chief apologises for ‘intolerable’ misogyny in Submarine Service

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Ben Key confirms several personnel have been sacked, demoted or disciplined as a result of investigations

The head of the Royal Navy has issued an unreserved apology for “intolerable” misogyny in the Submarine Service, after a series of investigations across the navy exposed sexual harassment, bullying and assault of women within its ranks.

First Sea Lord Adm Sir Ben Key said he was “truly sorry” to the women who had suffered “misogyny, bullying and other unacceptable behaviours” while serving their country. “We must be better than this and do better than we have,” he said.

Senior figures forced juniors to tell them ‘shagging dits’, or personal sexual stories.

“Sniffing”, the practice of following the few women around, was “rife”, with women seen as “legitimate targets”.

“At least” one report of rape.

Those in command forced juniors to show them “sports photos”, compromising pictures of their partners, before allowing them to leave the room.

Women’s underwear going missing.

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Retired Bracknell GP found guilty of indecently assaulting female patients

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Stephen Cox, 65, to be sentenced on Monday for 12 offences between 1988 and 1997

A retired GP has been found guilty of indecently assaulting female patients on the pretext of carrying out routine procedures.

Stephen Cox, 65, denied 16 charges of indecent assault against seven women while practising in Bracknell, Berkshire, between 1988 and 1997. He was found guilty of 12 of those counts on Friday at Reading crown court after a four-week trial, Thames Valley police said. He will be sentenced on Monday.

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Cabinet set for split over support for England and Wales assisted dying bill

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Some senior ministers expected to vote against measure in free vote, while others are still undecided

MPs backing a new bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales hope to secure a Commons vote by Christmas, but cabinet ministers are set for a big split over support for the legislation.

The bill, due to be brought forward by the Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater this month, is to be a free vote but some senior cabinet ministers are expected to vote against – and several, including the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and the health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting – remain undecided.

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