Category Archives: UK news

Eight people dead in attempt to cross Channel, say French authorities

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Investigation opens in France into deaths as David Lammy says UK could process asylum claimants in third country

Eight people died overnight trying to cross the Channel from France to England, French regional authorities have said, as the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said the government could follow Italy’s lead and process asylum claimants in a third country.

The French maritime prefecture said 59 people were onboard the boat, which got into difficulty off the coast of France, and 51 of them were rescued. An investigation has been opened by the Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor’s office.

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Man, 18, charged with murders of a woman and two teenagers in Luton

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Nicholas Prosper is suspect in deaths of three people believed to be Juliana Prosper, 48, Kyle Prosper, 16, and Giselle Prosper, 13

An 18-year-old has been charged with the murders of a woman and two teenagers who were found dead at a flat in Luton on Friday, Bedfordshire police have said.

Nicholas Prosper, of Leabank, Luton was arrested on Friday morning in Bramingham Road after police discovered three bodies at a flat in Leabank, off Wauluds Bank Drive, at about 5.30am.

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Keir Starmer alleged to have broken rules over party donor’s gifts to wife

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The prime minister made a late declaration of a personal shopper and clothes for his wife paid for by Lord Alli

Keir Starmer is alleged to have broken parliamentary rules by failing to declare donations of clothing for his wife from the Labour donor Waheed Alli.

The gifts to Victoria Starmer were not initially declared in the register of MPs’ interests, the Sunday Times reported.

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Father who is convicted rapist stripped of parental responsibility for daughter

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Mother hopes case will ‘shine a light’ on family courts and Cafcass

A convicted rapist who was previously allowed to have unsupervised time with his child has been stripped of his parental responsibility.

Kristoffer White, who has been described as a “danger to women and children”, failed to turn up to court last week for a hearing, attended by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), to determine the involvement he could have in his daughter’s life.

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Alarm in UK and US over possible Iran-Russia nuclear deal

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US president Joe Biden and British PM Keir Starmer fear secret arms link-up amid talks in Washington over Ukraine

Britain and the US have raised fears that Russia has shared nuclear secrets with Iran in return for Tehran supplying Moscow with ballistic missiles to bomb Ukraine.

During their summit in Washington DC on Friday, Keir Starmer and US president Joe Biden acknowledged that the two countries were tightening military cooperation at a time when Iran is in the process of enriching enough uranium to complete its long-held goal to build a nuclear bomb.

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Nurseries in England say new rules have reduced care to ‘crowd control’

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The first study into Tory shake-up of childcare shows staff are overwhelmed

The first major study into the Conservatives’ controversial shake-up of childcare has revealed that nursery staff are often doing more “crowd control” than education, because of the increased number of children they are looking after.

Since September last year, nurseries in England have been allowed to increase child-to-staff ratios, so one adult now looks after five two-year-olds rather than four. The change was intended to help deliver the party’s pledge of 15 hours’ free childcare a week from this month for working parents of children aged from nine months to three years.

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Pedestrian in his 60s dies after being hit by police vehicle in Nuneaton

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Warwickshire police officers were responding to an urgent incident on Friday evening when the collision occurred

A pedestrian in his 60s has died after being hit by a police vehicle, Warwickshire police have said.

Officers were responding to an emergency incident in Nuneaton when their vehicle collided with the man at about 8.45pm on Friday, the force said.

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TfL to refund drivers wrongly issued with Ulez fines after cameras vandalised

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Two cameras in Chingford were twisted around to face roads outside the low-emission zone boundary

Transport for London (TfL) has said it will refund drivers wrongly issued with ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) charges because of vandalised enforcement cameras.

The transport body confirmed two cameras in Chingford, north-east London, “became misaligned” for a short period and many fines were issued incorrectly. It is understood the cameras were twisted the wrong way so that they were facing roads outside the Ulez boundary.

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Airport parking: £100 fines in Bristol ‘could be unenforceable’

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Eagle-eyed reader and consumer solicitor say local bylaws are key to question of enforcement

Are private fines sent by Bristol airport’s contractor to motorists who pick up passengers outside its designated, paid-for, drop-off and pickup zone unenforceable?

It looks as though they may be, if an eagle-eyed Guardian reader and a leading consumer solicitor are correctly interpreting the bylaws that govern the airport.

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Prince Harry at 40: the difference a decade has made to the duke’s life

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Living among film stars and estranged from his father and brother, Harry’s milestone birthday may bring moment of reflection

Ten years ago, Prince Harry was given the run of Clarence House for his 30th birthday. Guests headed by Prince William and including long-standing childhood friends enjoyed a black-tie dinner where they were reportedly serenaded by Ellie Goulding while Charles and Camilla discreetly decamped to their Scottish hideaway.

Such a family celebration now seems unthinkable as Harry prepares to mark his 40th on Sunday.

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‘I’m not sure what to trust’: a student navigates the news in the age of social media

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With more people getting their news online than on TV, Ben Herd, 20, records his experience of following current affairs

An Ofcom report this week marked a tipping point: more people now get their news online than on TV. We asked Ben Herd, a 20-year-old currently at university, to keep a diary for a couple of days of how he was following news stories and current affairs. He gets most of his news from social media …

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Joe Biden dismisses Russian threats during meeting with Keir Starmer

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US and UK leaders’ talks dominated by row with Russia over use of Storm Shadow missiles

Joe Biden dismissed sabre-rattling threats made by Vladimir Putin as the US president met with the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, at the White House on Friday.

Biden said he did not accept that Ukraine using western-made Storm Shadow missiles to bomb targets in Russia would amount to Nato going to war with Moscow.

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Starmer says rebuilding UK means painful decisions, not just ‘a lick of paint’

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PM defends choices such as cutting winter fuel allowance as long-term remedies as polls show his popularity falling

Keir Starmer has said painful decisions such as cutting winter fuel payment to save £1.4bn a year are necessary as failure to act would be simply “putting a lick of paint over the damp”.

The prime minister described the process of taking decisions “that aren’t going to be popular” as part of a strategy of “strip down the joint, rebuild the house”.

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Meta to push on with plan to use UK Facebook and Instagram posts to train AI

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Move to use shared posts follows information commissioner concerns and sets collision course with EU over privacy

Mark Zuckberg’s Meta is to go ahead with controversial plans to use millions of UK Facebook and Instagram posts to train its artificial intelligence (AI) technology, in a practice that is effectively outlawed under EU privacy laws.

Meta said it had “engaged positively” with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) over the plan, after it paused similar proposals in June in the UK and EU. The pause came after the ICO warned tech firms to respect the privacy of users when building generative AI.

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Pro-Palestine protester cleared of racial offence over ‘coconut’ placard

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Marieha Hussain had denied her placard depicting Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman was racially abusive

A teacher who held a placard depicting Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as coconuts has been found not guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence.

Marieha Hussain, 37, had denied the prosecution’s allegation that the placard she held at a pro-Palestine protest was “racially abusive”.

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Russia revokes accreditation of six British diplomats it accuses of spying

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FSB says documents show diplomats in Moscow were helping to coordinate ‘escalation of military situation’ in Ukraine

Russia announced it had revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow on accusations of espionage as Keir Starmer prepared to meet Joe Biden in Washington to discuss how Ukraine could use long-range missiles deep inside Russian territory.

Moscow’s FSB domestic spy agency said on Friday that it had acted on documents showing that part of the Foreign Office was helping coordinate what it called “the escalation of the political and military situation” in Ukraine.

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Teenager arrested after deaths of three people at property in Luton

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Man, 18, held after emergency services find three people with injuries who were pronounced dead at scene

A teenager has been arrested after the deaths of three people at a property in Luton on Friday morning.

Officers were called at about 5.30am to reports of concerns for welfare at a flat in Leabank, off Wauluds Bank Drive. Emergency services attended and discovered three people with injuries. All three were pronounced dead at the scene.

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Labour and Starmer suffer sharp fall in popularity since election, poll suggests – UK politics live

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Labour still more popular with voters than Conservative party but those saying they view party and leaders unfavourably has risen

The government’s defence review should consider the importance of Britain being able to “wage peace” as well as war, Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, told peers.

In a debate in the House of Lords on Sudan this morning, Welby said the strategic defence review (SDR) announced by Labour should include a “peace-building option”, to stop conflict before it happens.

A peace-building option, well developed and acting in areas of fragility, would extend our influence, protect our interests and guard against fresh waves of migration …

In other words, the SDR should be full spectrum, preparing this nation not only to wage war but to wage peace as well. I fear that may not be the case …

No, absolutely not

And let’s just try to quash this now. The budget is on October 30. So, between now and then, you are all going to ask me questions, as you did before the election, ‘will you rule out X, Y, Z?

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Jay Blades charged with engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour

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Repair Shop presenter has appeared at Kidderminster magistrates court, say West Mercia police

The BBC presenter Jay Blades has been charged with engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour against his wife. The Repair Shop presenter appeared at Kidderminster magistrates court on Friday, West Mercia police said.

The Guardian understands that the BBC took steps to remove a programme featuring Blades from its Friday evening schedule after the charge, and that no programmes with the former furniture maker would be shown in the foreseeable future.

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Experts raise concerns over ‘unreliable’ marking of GCSE English

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Some high-achieving pupils in England received lower than expected grades that rose after being re-marked

Concerns have been raised about the reliability of the marking of GCSE English this summer, after complaints that normally high-achieving pupils in schools in England were awarded lower than expected results, which then went up after being re-marked.

In some cases, marks for individual questions doubled after a review, and at least one pupil’s grade jumped from 6 to 9. GCSEs are graded on a scale of 1 to 9, with 9 the highest grade.

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