PM and police chiefs agree plans for unit that aims to boost intelligence gathering on ‘extremist troublemakers’
A new national violent disorder unit is to be set up to clamp down on rioters, the Guardian has learned, after far-right riots this week.
Keir Starmer is expected to make the official announcement as soon as Thursday, having agreed it with police chiefs at a crisis meeting.
Continue reading...Committee voted by five votes to four in favour of cut as governor says inflationary pressures have eased enough
The Bank of England has cut interest rates for the first time since the start of the Covid pandemic, moving to ease the pressure on households after ratcheting up borrowing costs to combat the worst inflation shock in four decades.
In a finely balanced decision after holding borrowing costs at the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis for a year, the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) voted by a narrow majority to cut its base rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 5%.
Continue reading...Stella Maris criticises decision to remove her from two roles after she accused Israel of genocide and apartheid
The rector of St Andrews University has been dismissed from the institution’s governing body and her position as a trustee after she accused Israel of genocide and apartheid.
Stella Maris criticised the decision to remove her from the two roles, which came after the university commissioned an investigation into an email she sent in November to all St Andrews students calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Continue reading...Doreen Lawrence announces son’s body has been exhumed in Jamaica, after photos of open grave posted online
Stephen Lawrence’s body will be returned to the UK from Jamaica 31 years after his racist murder, his mother, Doreen, has said.
In a statement issued through her lawyer, Lady Lawrence said images of her son’s grave had appeared on social media after his body had been exhumed, which had caused the family “distress”.
Continue reading...Teenager from Banks in Lancashire charged after three children killed and eight injured during dance class
A 17-year-old boy has been charged with murder and attempted murder after 13 people, including 11 children, were stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, police said.
Merseyside police said they charged the suspect, who is from the village of Banks, Lancashire, with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of an offensive weapon. He will appear at Liverpool city magistrates court on Wednesday morning.
Continue reading...‘Astonishing’ signs of regrowth discovered on world-famous tree, whose destruction led to outpouring of grief
The felling of the Sycamore Gap tree brought forth an outpouring of emotion last year, with local people and tourists alike left bereft by pictures showing it on its side.
But the latest stage of the saga has brought some “astonishing” green shoots of recovery, the National Trust has said – in a literal and metaphorical sense.
Continue reading...About one in five teenagers aged 16-18 display problematic behaviour with their phones, study finds
Teenagers who fall prey to “problematic smartphone use” are more likely to suffer from insomnia, anxiety and depression, a new study suggests.
About one in five teenagers aged 16-18 displayed problematic behaviour with their phones, with many saying they wanted help cutting down, experts from King’s College London found.
Continue reading...Substantial proportion have cognitive and mental health problems years after infection, with some symptoms worsening
Health problems and brain fog can persist for years in people hospitalised by Covid early in the pandemic, with some patients developing more severe and even new symptoms after 12 months, researchers say.
They found that while many people with long Covid improved over time, a substantial proportion still had cognitive problems two to three years later and saw symptoms of depression, anxiety and fatigue worsen rather than subside.
Continue reading...Arrests come after far right staged violent protests following deaths of three children in knife attack
More than 50 police officers were injured and five men arrested after far-right riots in Southport, which broke out as the town reeled from a knife attack that killed three children.
The Merseyside chief constable, Serena Kennedy, said the five were arrested in connection with riots in which 53 police officers were injured – 49 from Merseyside police and four from Lancashire. Three police dogs, Zoe, Ike and Quga, were also hurt.
Continue reading...Even as shares fall about 9%, chief financial officer says firm is seeing ‘more investment’ in AI than ‘even 90 days ago’
Chip designer Arm Holdings on Wednesday reported a stronger-than-expected 39% surge in quarterly revenue, and forecast fiscal second-quarter sales broadly in line with Wall Street estimates, yet its shares fell about 9% in extended trading.
For the current fiscal second quarter, Arm forecast revenue in a range between $780m and $830m, compared with an average analyst estimate of $804.1m, according to LSEG data.
Continue reading...Farm north of London to be returned to something like pasture once enjoyed by Anglo-Saxon king
It was once woodland where Harold Godwinson, the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king, rode in pursuit of deer. Over recent decades, the hillside with a panoramic view of London has become arable fields, pony paddocks and a Christmas tree plantation.
But now Harold’s Park, a 200-hectare (500 acre) farm just north of the M25 on the edge of the capital, is to be rewilded and returned to something like the tangled wood pasture once enjoyed by King Harold.
Continue reading...Rising bill largely result of ‘staggering’ levels of presenteeism causing loss of productivity
The hidden cost of rising workplace sickness in the UK has increased to more than £100bn a year, largely caused by a loss of productivity amid “staggering” levels of presenteeism, a report warns.
Analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) shows the cost of staff sickness has grown by £30bn a year to £103bn in 2023. The annual bill was £73bn in 2018, its study found.
Continue reading...Far-right protesters threw bricks at officers, set vehicles on fire and attacked mosque
Keir Starmer has said those who rioted in Southport on Tuesday night will “feel the full force of the law” after police vehicles were set alight and missiles hurled at officers.
It came after far-right protesters pelted police with glass bottles and bricks and attacked a mosque following a knife attack that killed three children.
Continue reading...The new budget comes after the previous government failed to award a single new offshore wind contract in 2023
The Labour government will make record amounts of funding available to clean energy developers after it increased the value of its summer subsidy auction by 50%, to £1.5bn.
The addition, compared with figures previously announced, means the total budget is seven times the amount available at last year’s auction, the government said.
Continue reading...Limit on welfare support, introduced in 2013, leaves some with just £4 a day for each family member
Low-income families affected by the benefit cap are living on as little as £4 for each person a day, often in overcrowded, rat-infested and damp homes with little prospect of escape, according to a new study.
The cap puts a ceiling on the amount a working-age family can receive in welfare support if no one in the household is working or they are on very low wages. Families affected by it in many parts of the country are, in effect, trapped in poor quality, private rented properties they cannot afford, even though these are often already the cheapest homes available in their local area, the London School of Economics study said.
Continue reading...Audit of Environmental Improvement Plan finds it inadequate as government announces overhaul of goals
Goals to stop the decline of nature and clean up the air and water in England are slipping out of reach, a new report has warned.
An audit of the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), which is the mechanism by which the government’s legally binding targets for improving nature should be met, has found that plans for thriving plants and wildlife and clean air are deteriorating. This plan was supposed to replace the EU-derived environmental regulations the UK used until the Environment Act was passed in 2021 after Brexit.
Continue reading...Rayner says housing target system will raise number of homes planned to 370,000 and confirmed targets will be mandatory
Balls, who, of course, is a former Labour cabinet minister, and a former shadow chancellor, questions whether Reeves is right to suggest that Jeremy Hunt is wholly to blame for the black hole. He says that other cabinet ministers and departments drew up the spending plans that she says were unfunded.
Reeves repeats the point she has been making all morning about how the public were misled. (See 8.06am.)
Continue reading...Violent clashes at street protest, hours after police released names of three children who were killed
Southport Football Club said it has cancelled tonight’s pre-season friendly match with Morecambe FC “out of respect to those who have so tragically lost their lives” and to those who will be “deeply impacted” by the Southport attack. The match was scheduled to take place in the club’s Haig Avenue stadium this evening, near the scene of the incident.
In a post on social media yesterday evening, the club said in a statement:
The club would like to reiterate that tomorrow the Club Lounge will be open from 10am-3pm for those who wish to gather, share their thoughts and find support during this difficult time.
Specialist support staff will be present to offer assistance and comfort to those who need it.
Continue reading...Five children and two adults remain in critical condition in hospital, as police question 17-year-old over stabbings
The three children who were killed in a knife attack at a dance class in Southport have been named as Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine.
Eleven children and two adults were stabbed in what police described as a “ferocious attack” in a studio on Hart Street on Monday morning during a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga class for children.
Continue reading...Bectu survey shows just 6% of workers have seen a full recovery in employment a year on from joint industrial action by Sag-Aftra and the Writers Guild of America
More than half of the UK’s film and TV workforce are still out of work a year after the Hollywood strikes of 2023, new research has found.
According to a survey of more than 2,300 film and TV workers by the Bectu trade union, 52% of workers in the UK film sector are out of work, 51% in TV drama, 57% in unscripted TV and 53% in commercials.
Continue reading...