Category Archives: UK news

Boss of takeover target Direct Line wants time to turn around insurer

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New management at struggling firm, which rejected £3.3bn bid from Aviva, ‘making excellent progress’, says CEO

The Direct Line chief executive, Adam Winslow, has appealed to shareholders to give his team more time to turn around the struggling insurer, faced with an unsolicited £3.3bn offer from Aviva, while its bigger rival is trying hard to drum up support from investors for the takeover.

The two companies – the UK’s biggest insurer, Aviva, and the Churchill owner, Direct Line, known for motor cover and its red phone on wheels mascot – are facing off in a takeover tussle that has sent the Direct Line share price soaring, amid speculation that Aviva could raise its offer or launch a hostile bid, or face a counterbid.

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Be careful with drinks while travelling, says mother of British lawyer who died in Laos

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Simone White, 28, was one of six tourists to die in a suspected methanol poisoning at Vang Vieng hostel

The mother of a British lawyer who died after being served a drink that was allegedly spiked with methanol has said if it can happen to her daughter it can happen to anyone.

Simone White, 28, from Orpington, Kent, was one of six tourists killed in the popular backpacking town of Vang Vieng after an alleged mass poisoning. She was taken in for surgery just as her mother, Sue, 61, arrived at the hospital. It later became clear that Simone’s brain function was gone, and she died on Thursday 21 November.

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Cheaper loans on table to urge UK motorists to EVs, plus cuts in fines for firms

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Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds says there is ‘no route to net zero’ that ignores concerns of businesses after wave of closures

• Jonathan Reynolds: If we delay the UK’s drive for electric vehicles, our rivals will overtake us

There is “no route to net zero” that ignores the real concerns of businesses, a cabinet minister has warned, as the government prepares to reduce financial penalties handed to carmakers not selling enough electric cars.

Ministers are also looking at how cheaper loans could be introduced to help people buy an electric vehicle (EV), after a wave of job losses and closures in which carmakers blamed the onerous fines they were facing.

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‘We live on Pot Noodles’: rickets hits homeless families with no kitchen

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Families placed in hotels in England are being forced to live on snack foods, putting young people’s health at risk

Homeless children placed in hotels are developing rickets and other diet-related health problems because their parents lack anywhere to cook.

The Magpie Project, which works with homeless mothers in the east London borough of Newham, where more households are living in temporary accommodation than anywhere in the country, said families living in hotels were eating an unhealthy diet of takeaways and snack foods because they had no cooking facilities or anywhere to store fresh produce.

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Claws are out as Jaguar heads down EV rebrand road

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A new electric model will be unveiled this week. Will it turn round the culture war embroiling the marque?

When German manufacturer BMW took over the Mini brand and launched the Mini Cooper in 2001, some people were outraged. Drivers with previous models even slapped on bumper stickers reading “this is a real Mini”. The BBC reported that executives insisted the car “is not a small BMW”.

The storm died down, and Mini has gone on to sell more cars each year (about 300,000) than ever before, many of them emblazoned with union jack tail-lights – whatever the ownership of the factory.

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More than 600 Brazilians deported by Home Office on three secret flights

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Record number of deportees includes children who may have spent most of their lives in the UK

More than 600 Brazilians, including 109 children, have been secretly removed from the UK – on the three largest Home Office deportation charter flights in history – since the Labour government came to power, the Observer has learned.

The Home Office has never before removed any nationality in such large numbers on individual deportation charter flights. It is thought that children have never before been removed on these flights.

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Letter from 1300 in support of Scottish hero William Wallace goes on display

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Fragile, rarely seen artefact sent by the King of France was briefly available for public view on St Andrew's Day

An important letter in support of Scottish hero William Wallace has been put on display on St Andrew’s Day.

More than 250 people turned up on Saturday to see the fragile document, which was only on display for five hours to protect it from too much daylight.

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UFO expert not ruling out Russia or China links to drones seen at RAF bases

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Sightings over three airbases in East Anglia could relate to foreign powers’ concerns about possible nuclear weapons

A British former UFO hunter has said he does not “rule out” recent drone incursions over RAF bases in England being connected to Russia and China and nuclear weapons.

Unidentified drones were spotted in November over three airbases in the east of England that are used by the US air force (USAF).

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Teenager dead and another ‘critical’ after Merseyside motorbike crash

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Police say vehicle was missing at the scene and that other men were present when fatal incident occurred

A teenager has died and another is in “a critical condition” after a motorbike crash in Merseyside, police have said.

A 17-year-old boy was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash in Woodchurch, Wirral. An 18-year-old boy was taken to hospital where he remains in a critical condition.

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‘Photographs did not do it justice’: King Louis XV’s magnificent rhino is star of new London exhibition

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After wowing the court of Versailles over 200 years ago, the jet-black beast is back in the spotlight at the Science Museum

King Louis XV’s rhinoceros was the star of the court of Versailles. Fed on a diet of bread, its tough hide was regularly massaged with oil. But it proved not an easy pet to keep and unfortunately killed two people who entered its enclosure.

Now, the magnificent beast, since stuffed and preserved, has left Paris for the first time since it arrived in 1770, travelling to London to take up a temporary place under the spotlight at the Science Museum in London.

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Beekeepers halt honey awards over ‘huge fraud’ in global supply chain

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Warnings that genuine products are bulked out with cheaper sugar syrup prompt international congress to withdraw prizes

The World Beekeeping Awards will not award a prize for honey next year after warnings of widespread fraud in the global supply chain.

Apimondia, the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations, says it will showcase honey from around the world at its congress in Denmark, but for the first time make no awards for the product.

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Diane Abbott warns vulnerable people could see ‘supported suicide’ as only option after assisted dying vote – as it happened

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Meanwhile, the government has thrown its weight behind a bill to crack down on puppy smuggling as part of a commitment to strengthening animal welfare.

Ministers announced on Friday that they were supporting a private member’s bill sponsored by Danny Chambers, a Liberal Democrat MP and veterinary surgeon, to crack down on the pet-smuggling trade.

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MPs across divide call for better palliative care after assisted dying vote

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Layla Moran and Diane Abbott say end-of-life care needs more funding after bill passed for England and Wales

MPs on both sides of the debate over assisted dying have called for improvements to palliative care, regardless of whether parliament eventually enacts legalisation.

Layla Moran, who supported the bill at its second reading on Friday, and Diane Abbott, who did not, agreed that more funding was required to improve end-of-life care during a joint-interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

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Cornish tourist spot unveils spider-related haiku spun by Simon Armitage

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Work first in a series from poet laureate about wildlife that exists in the Lost Gardens of Heligan

A new haiku by the poet laureate Simon Armitage has appeared on a garden wall in Cornwall, the first of a series of pieces celebrating the creatures that make their home among the woods, meadows and ferns there.

Armitage’s haiku, Web, celebrates the silky but deadly threads that spiders “darn” in the hedges at the Lost Gardens of Heligan and was unveiled together with an illuminated 2-metre recreation of a walnut orb-weaver spider as part of a midwinter night trail.

Web can be seen at Heligan Night Garden, which is open on select dates, until 4 January and Dwell will be published by Faber.

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‘Historic step’: what the UK papers say after landmark vote on assisted dying

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Newspapers across the board cover the historic vote prominently, but with some more enthused about the outcome than others

Front pages in the UK on Saturday were dominated by the step taken by MPs toward legalising assisted dying in England and Wales by backing a bill that would give some terminally ill people the right to end their own lives.

The Guardian splashed with the news, describing it as a “historic vote” that paves the way for assisted dying, along with a photo of emotional supporters of the bill embracing.

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Bark detective: dog trained to sniff out UK tree disease

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Six-year-old spanador called Ivor taught to identify tree fungal-like organism killing trees and shrubs around UK

Sniffer dogs are usually found looking for contraband at airports and train stations, but the UK government is now dispatching trained hounds to find forest-harming pests.

A dog has been used for the first time in the UK to successfully identify tree disease. Researchers from Forest Research used a trained spanador – a cocker spaniel labrador cross – to find the tree pathogen Phytophthora ramorum.

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Still life quartet by Dutch golden age master to be shown together in Cambridge

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Jan Davidsz de Heem’s four paintings of sumptuous food and luxury objects were produced as series

A quartet of influential still lifes from the Dutch artist Jan Davidsz de Heem will go on display together for the first time since the 17th century at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

The four paintings were produced as part of a series by De Heem, who is considered to be a master of pronkstilleven – a style of ornate still life painting – during the Dutch golden age, depicting displays of sumptuous food and luxurious objects.

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Mauritian PM asks for independent review of Chagos Island deal with UK

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Recently elected PM Navin Ramgoolam tells parliament contents of negotiations ‘unknown’ to new government

The Mauritian prime minister has asked for an independent review of the Chagos Islands deal with the UK, according to parliamentary records.

According to the Mauritian parliament Hansard record, the new prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, said during a session on Friday: “I wish to inform the house that I have asked for an independent review of the confidential draft agreement agreed so far.”

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Leicester man who assaulted girlfriend then slept as she died sentenced to life

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Raj Sidpara, 50, given minimum 21-year sentence after punching, kicking and stamping on Tarnjeet Riaz

A man who murdered his girlfriend by punching, kicking and stamping on her before falling asleep and leaving her to die has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years.

Raj Sidpara, 50, was convicted of the murder of Tarnjeet Riaz, also known by her maiden name Chagger, at Leicester crown court last week.

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Met accidentally reveals names of alleged Westminster ‘honeytrap’ victims

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Police officer inadvertently disclosed identities and contact details in email update to alleged victims

The Metropolitan police revealed the names of alleged victims of the Westminster “honeytrap” scandal in an accidentally sent email, it has emerged.

A police officer emailed some alleged victims updating them on the case, which is due to be heard in court, but inadvertently revealed their names and contact details to each other.

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