Category Archives: UK news

Tory and Reform MPs accused of ‘weaponising trauma’ of grooming victims, as Farage calls for inquiry into Pakistani men – UK politics live

Posted on by

Prime minister told Commons any new inquiry into child abuse would delay progress however spokesperson says he has not ruled one out

Reform UK has also tabled a reasoned amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill motion tonight. It says:

That this house declines to give a second reading to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill because the secretary of state for the Home Department has not launched a UK-wide public inquiry into grooming gangs and has not committed to updating Members of this House every quarter on the progress of the inquiry.

The Conservatives are using the victims of this scandal as a political football.

The Conservatives alongside Reform, goaded along by Elon Musk will be voting for a motion which will not secure a national inquiry for victims of child sexual abuse, but instead it would kill these crucial child protection measures completely.

Continue reading...

Rapper convicted of posting ‘menacing’ video directed at Tommy Robinson

Posted on by

Birmingham-based drill musician known as Twista Cheese made gun gesture in video and shouted ‘pow, pow, pow’

A rapper has been convicted of posting a “menacing” video on social media directed towards Tommy Robinson, in which he mentioned artillery and made a gun gesture while shouting “pow, pow, pow”.

Omar Abdirizak, a 31-year-old Birmingham-based rapper known as Twista Cheese, posted the minute-long TikTok video in August last year.

Continue reading...

UK Athletics charged with manslaughter over Paralympian’s death

Posted on by

Abdullah Hayayei, 36, who represented UAE, was injured in London in July 2017 and pronounced dead at the scene

UK Athletics has been charged with corporate manslaughter over the death of a Paralympian who was hit on the head by a metal pole while preparing the London World Para Athletics Championships in 2017. Keith Davies, the head of sport for the championships, also faces charges of gross negligence manslaughter after the pole, which was attached to a throwing cage, fell on Abdullah Hayayei while he was training.

UKA and Davies have also been charged with a health and safety offence over the incident, which occurred at the Newham Leisure Centre in east London.

Continue reading...

City regulator vows to ease ‘burden’ on UK banks amid government pressure

Posted on by

Bank of England says it is rowing back on ‘overcooked’ regulations introduced after financial crisis

The Bank of England plans to slash the “reporting burden” on UK banks and allow insurers to make riskier investments without initial approval, as it comes under government pressure to ease regulations introduced after the financial crisis.

Sam Woods, a deputy governor at the Bank who leads its regulatory arm, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), said the central bank had rowed back on rules that appeared to be “overcooked”, as he suggested it might have gone too far and harmed the financial sector.

Continue reading...

Gaza Cola launched by Palestinian activist to rebuild destroyed hospital

Posted on by

Sales of fizzy drink from London hoped to raise money and send a message to big firms ‘investing in armed trade’

Gaza’s healthcare is on the brink of “total collapse”, according to the UN, because of the targeting of hospitals by Israel. While it is still impossible to say how much time and money it will take to rebuild, one Palestinian activist has plans to piece one small part of it back with the help of a soft drink.

Osama Qashoo, the creator of Gaza Cola, hopes to use profits from his Coca-Cola alternative, recently launched in London, to rebuild al Karama hospital, which used to stand in northern Gaza. “It’s been reduced to rubble for no just reason, like all of these hospitals in Gaza,” according to the 43-year-old film-maker, human rights advocate and, now, fizzy-drink maker.

Continue reading...

UK watchdog bans ‘offensive’ adverts showing banknotes in flames

Posted on by

ASA acts on poster campaign by Wahed, urging people to join a ‘money revolution’, after receiving 75 complaints

The UK’s advertising watchdog has banned a campaign by an online investment company predominantly targeting Muslims that featured images of euros and US dollars and the words “The United States of America” in flames alongside a call to “join the money revolution”.

Wahed Invest Ltd, an online investment platform, ran six posters on various Transport for London (TfL) services, including the London Underground and on buses, last September and October.

Continue reading...

Schools in England face ‘death by a thousand cuts’, headteachers say

Posted on by

Rising costs likely to outstrip funding in coming year, despite recent injections of additional money

Schools in England are facing “death by a thousand cuts”, headteachers have said, after a leading economics thinktank said rising costs are likely to outstrip funding in the coming year, despite recent injections of additional money.

Without more ambitious government investment in education, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said there could be yet more cuts in England’s already depleted schools, reducing pastoral support and curriculum choice, while class sizes are likely to grow.

Continue reading...

Labour says cap on school uniform items could save families £50 a child

Posted on by

Government plans to limit branded student kit to three articles, plus a tie, from September 2026 in England

Plans to cap the number of branded uniform items schools in England can require to three, plus a tie, could save families more than £50 a child, with additional annual savings of £450 from free breakfast clubs in all primaries, the government has said.

The cost-saving measures are laid out in the government’s children’s wellbeing and schools bill which is due to be debated on Wednesday when it gets its second reading in parliament.

Continue reading...

‘Flat packing them’: soldier says SAS described killing Afghans in casual way

Posted on by

Inquiry hears elite forces had a ‘kill all males on target whether they posed a threat or not’ policy in Afghanistan

Afghans who were killed by members of the SAS in Afghanistan were described dismissively as having been “flat packed” according to revealing testimony given by a former member of the elite force’s sister unit to a public inquiry.

The soldier, known only as N1799, said he had been party to a conversation with a member of the SAS in 2011 who had served in Afghanistan, in which he had been “shocked by the age and methods” used to kill Afghans.

Continue reading...

Search begins for British hikers missing in northern Italy since New Year’s Day

Posted on by

Aziz Ziriat, 36, and Samuel Harris, 35, were ‘planning on going off-grid’ during holiday in the Dolomites

A search is under way for a pair of British hikers in the Dolomites in northern Italy who have been missing since New Year’s Day.

Aziz Ziriat, 36, and Samuel Harris, 35, last sent messages home on 1 January from the Trentino region. They have not been heard from since. The pair, who are both from London, did not check in to their flight home on 6 January.

Continue reading...

Cockney influences found in Scotland, Australia and New Zealand, says expert

Posted on by

Linguistics professor says London dialect is most likely to be spoken in Essex, but aspects have traversed the globe

The cockney dialect, as associated with the late EastEnders icon Dame Barbara Windsor, may not be as prevalent in today’s London, but it remains possibly the most influential English dialect across the world, according to academic research.

No longer the preserve of those born within earshot of the Bow Bells in the City of London, today cockney is more likely to be spoken in Essex.

Continue reading...

Restaurant owner rescues woman from submerged car in Leicestershire

Posted on by

Cimi Kazazi says he is proud to have helped woman trapped by flood, as thoughts turn to his devastated gastropub

Dramatic footage showed a woman being rescued from a submerged car in Leicestershire after a critical incident was declared in the region because of wide-scale flooding.

A restaurant owner in the village of Great Glen went to the aid of a woman who was struggling in her submerged car after severe flooding hit the area on Monday morning.

Continue reading...

Home Office may reclassify ketamine in response to record levels of use

Posted on by

Illegal use in UK seems to reflect growth of unregulated market in US, where its high-profile users include Elon Musk

Ketamine, the anaesthetic taken by Elon Musk to control his moods, could be reclassified as a class A drug by the Home Office after illegal use reached record levels last year.

Currently controlled as a class B substance, ministers are seeking “expert advice” on reclassification after an estimated 299,000 people reported use of the drug last year.

Continue reading...

MPs call for greater criticism of Israel’s policies over Gaza – UK politics live

Posted on by

Palestinians trapped in a ‘doom loop of hell’, MPs told

At the end of last week Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary and runner-up in last year’s Tory leadership contest, said the child abuse grooming scandal started with “mass migration” and “importing hundreds of thousands of people from alien cultures, who possess medieval attitudes towards women”. In response Samuel Kasumu, a former Tory adviser on race issues, said that comments like that could lead to people being killed, while Kemi Badenoch defended her colleague.

In an inteview on the Today programme this morning, asked if Kasumu’s comments made him reconsider his views, Jenrick replied:

That’s complete nonsense. MPs have been killed in this country in recent times by a jihadist and by a neo-Nazi. They were killed because of the views of those individuals, not what anything an MP has said. We have to fight extremism in this country, wherever we find it, and you fight that by standing up to the extremists, you don’t fight it by shying away, by turning a blind eye, by looking the other way.

I’m not going to tiptoe around this issue. Millions of people in our country are listening to your programme this morning, and they are appalled by what is happening to young girls, and they are shocked that there might be girls in that situation today. We have to stop this.

I think some people who come from that country do. I’m not saying everybody.

NR: Did Sajid Javid’s family [the former Tory chancellor] come with a medieval culture to this county?

RJ: I’m saying some people do.

Robert Jenrick’s attempt to exploit this appalling scandal for his own political gain is completely shameless. He didn’t lift a finger to help the victims when a minister, now he’s jumping on the bandwagon and acting like a pound shop Farage.

Kemi Badenoch should sack him as shadow justice secretary and condemn his divisive comments, instead of letting him run a leadership campaign under her nose.

Continue reading...

Head of Met’s Black Police Association accused of sending offensive messages in group chat

Posted on by

Charles Ehikioya was in chat where racist, misogynistic, homophobic and pornographic messages were shared, hearing told

The Metropolitan police’s Black Police Association head was part of a group chat where “racist” jokes about east Asian people and a video mocking Katie Price’s disabled son, Harvey, were shared, a misconduct hearing was told.

Insp Charles Ehikioya is accused of being in a chat with former officer Carlo Francisco where racist, misogynistic, homophobic and pornographic messages were sent.

Continue reading...

Lib Dems call for Kemi Badenoch to sack Robert Jenrick over ‘divisive comments’

Posted on by

Shadow justice minister backs up previous remarks on immigration by telling BBC ‘not all cultures are equal’

The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, should sack Robert Jenrick for “divisive comments,” the Lib Dems have said, after the shadow justice minister doubled down on his comments about immigrants with “alien cultures”.

Jenrick was challenged repeatedly on Tuesday morning for having failed to act on the outcome of an inquiry into grooming gangs while he was in the Home Office, despite now demanding one, and for rarely mentioning the issue in the House of Commons until this year.

Continue reading...

More breast cancer cases found when AI used in screenings, study finds

Posted on by

First real-world test finds approach has higher detection rate without having a higher rate of false positives

The use of artificial intelligence in breast cancer screening increases the chance of the disease being detected, researchers have found, in what they say is the first real-world test of the approach.

Numerous studies have suggested AI could help medical professionals spot cancer, whether it is identifying abnormal growths in CT scans or signs of breast cancer in mammograms.

Continue reading...

Scottish man killed while serving as medic with Ukrainian army

Posted on by

Jordan Maclachlan, 26, died on Friday while serving on the frontline in Ukraine, his family says

A Scottish man has been killed while serving on the frontline with the Ukrainian army, his family has said.

Jordan Maclachlan, 26, from Ardnamurchan in the Scottish Highlands, died on Friday while serving as a medic with the Ukrainian army, his family told the BBC.

Continue reading...

Labour to make taking intimate images without consent a criminal offence

Posted on by

Ministers say predators could face two years in jail, and plan to include creating sexually explicit deepfakes in bill

Predators who take intimate images of unwitting victims or install cameras to do so could face up to two years’ in jail under plans drawn up by Labour.

Ministers have also confirmed that they plan to create a new offence for those who create sexually explicit deepfake images.

Taking or recording an intimate photograph or film without consent.

Taking or recording an intimate photograph or film without consent and with intent to cause alarm, distress, or humiliation.

Taking or recording an intimate photograph or film without consent or reasonable belief in it, and for the purpose of the sexual gratification of oneself or another.

Continue reading...