Only a third of shifts have enough nurses on duty, the Royal College of Nursing says its analysis shows
NHS patients are being left unseen in pain and in some cases to die alone because shifts do not have enough registered nurses, a survey shows.
The Royal College of Nursing said analysis of a survey it carried out showed that only a third of shifts had enough registered nurses on duty.
Continue reading...Thirty-five bodies recovered in March from company’s premises, along with ashes of unknown number of people
Police in Humberside have met with more than 160 families whose loved ones’ remains could be among human ashes found at the Legacy funeral home in Hull that will never be identified.
A total of 35 bodies were recovered in March from the company’s premises on Hessle Road, along with the ashes of an unknown number of people, after reports of “concern for care of the deceased”.
Continue reading...Tories make last-ditch attempt to persuade their voters to turn out for Thursday’s election
Labour would use a landslide victory to shift politics to the left and stay in power for decades, Rishi Sunak will warn on Monday, as he launches a last-ditch attempt to persuade Conservative voters to turn out for Thursday’s election.
The prime minister will address a rally at the beginning of the final week of the election campaign, which polls suggest will end in the Conservatives being ousted from power.
Continue reading...After festival organisers refused to screen Euros clash, pop singer bought flat screen TV and generator from Argos on Sunday morning and set them up in camping area
Festivalgoers at Glastonbury were given the opportunity to watch England’s Euro 2024 last-16 match against Slovakia by an unlikely figure: former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson, who livestreamed the game in the festival campsite on a flatscreen television he’d bought from Argos earlier in the day.
Glastonbury officials had announced earlier in the week that the match would not be shown at the festival due to clashes with performances on the major stages, forcing fans to find enterprising ways to watch it. Tomlinson was more enterprising than most, purchasing a flat screen TV and generator on Sunday morning and streaming the game using wifi. He said that he had initially intended to watch the game in the hospitality section but was thwarted by spotty reception, so brought the TV to the main festival site instead.
Continue reading...Steep cuts left three-quarters of 16- to 19-year-olds unable to get support, youth agency says
Young people are “crying out” for a return of youth clubs after swingeing cuts left three-quarters of 16- to 19-year-olds in England lacking ways to connect with youth workers, according to research shared with the Guardian.
More than half of people in their late teens are specifically calling for more youth work that offers “fun”, with older teenagers particularly hankering for more jollity, according to a study by the National Youth Agency (NYA). One in 10 said they have zero options to access youth work.
Continue reading...Nursery and garden centre trade bodies write open letter saying problems at border need to be urgently fixed
Nurseries and garden centres across Britain and Europe have warned that new post-Brexit border posts are not working properly and are leading to delays, damage and significant extra costs for importers bringing plants into Britain.
The Horticultural Trade Association, which represents 1,400 garden retailers and growers in the UK, has joined forces with several European trade bodies to write an open letter to call for urgent solutions, warning the new system was adding more than 25% to import costs.
Continue reading...Costs of trying to deport asylum seekers cannot be recovered if Labour wins and disbands policy
More than £320m spent by the government on the controversial scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is likely to be lost if the Conservatives are voted out of power at Thursday’s general election.
The sum has been spent on economic development money for Rwanda, along with set-up costs for the scheme, which cannot be recovered if it does not go ahead.
Continue reading...Prime minister says he’s ‘fighting very hard’ as campaigning reaches final days with Labour retaining the lead in polling for the Observer
Rishi Sunak said the slur used about him by a Reform UK canvasser was “deeply inappropriate and racist”.
The prime minister told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show that anyone becoming a politician expects a degree of criticism because it “comes with the territory”.
Continue reading...Reform UK leader echoes Donald Trump in response to claim hostile state actors are backing his party
Nigel Farage has angrily denied he is “fanning the flames of prejudice” to further his political ambitions, as he doubled down on claims Reform UK had been “set up” by an exposé of racism and prejudice among activists.
He was also confronted about a report in the Sunday Times – which the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, said he was “gravely” concerned about – that there is a threat to the general election from hostile actors such as Russia seeking to influence the democratic process.
Continue reading...Tributes pour in for former sheep farmer who broke record for most peaks climbed in a 24-hour period three times
Tributes have poured in for the veteran fell runner Joss Naylor, known as the “King of the Fells”, who has died aged 88.
Naylor, from Wasdale Head, Cumbria, is famous for breaking the record for most fells climbed in a 24-hour period three times. He also ran the fastest known times on the Three Peaks, Welsh 3,000ers and Pennine Way.
Continue reading...In the shadow culture minister’s seat, there is a degree of hope a Labour government might bring change
“I felt like Bristol was one of the best places in the country to make theatre,” says writer and performer Amy Mason, who’s lived in Bristol for most of her life. “It was quite punk. It was this very well organised, inclusive and active system of getting work on stage. People could make a living out of theatre.”
Mason left school at 16 and worked in retail, but a community theatre project not far from the colourful house we’re sitting in on the edge of the city offered her the chance to attend a playwright workshop and put on a small show. “They liked it, they gave me a commission, I was like: Oh my God, I could be a writer!” From there, she started writing short stories, went on to stage three shows with Bristol Old Vic, and has grown a career as a TV writer and standup comedian.
Continue reading...There are just 300 electric HGVs in the 500,000-strong lorry fleet – and only one public charging point, says RHA
The road haulage industry is calling on the new government to urgently tackle investment in infrastructure for electric trucks, after pointing out there is just one public charging point for HGVs in the whole of the UK.
Takeup of electric cars is soaring, with about 1.1m fully battery-powered cars on British roads and about 63,000 charging units in 33,000 locations, according to Zapmap data.
Continue reading...Case remains open following unsuccessful coordinated attempt to locate missing British teenager
Police in Tenerife have said the unsuccessful two-week search in the mountains for a missing British teenager is now over, although the case remains open.
Jay Slater, 19, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, went missing on Monday 17 June after attending a weekend rave with friends.
Continue reading...Music festival eschews football screening out of respect for headliners, but people wheel out portable TVs
As the Glastonbury festival filled up on Sunday, there was an incongruous mix of England football shirts and cowgirl get-ups among the crowds.
England’s Euro 2024 football match against Slovakia kicked off at 5pm on Sunday, immediately after Shania Twain’s Legends slot and shortly before Avril Lavigne took to the Other stage at 6pm.
Continue reading...Hundreds to attend Donington service for Matthew Flinders, whose remains were found during digging for HS2
When the remains of the famous explorer Capt Matthew Flinders – credited with naming Australia – were discovered during the digging for HS2, Jane Pearson knew he had to be brought back home to Donington.
This little village in Lincolnshire, where Flinders was born in 1774, has been preparing for his arrival for months, and is gearing up to welcome a host of Australian dignitaries travelling over for his reburial in July.
Continue reading...Northern Ireland’s politicians and the Irish government hopeful of a post-Brexit reset and an end to Tory turmoil
The prospect of a Labour government has united Northern Ireland’s political parties and the Irish government in hope of a reset in relations with London after the convulsions of Brexit.
Unionists and nationalists expect Keir Starmer to bring stability and focus to Downing Street’s approach to Northern Ireland and to mend frayed ties with Dublin.
Continue reading...Business community decries ‘act of arson’ as one-seventh of trade posts within British consulates in the US are scrapped
America was meant to be Britain’s route to the sunlit uplands of Brexit. Then, after hopes of a free trade deal evaporated, successive Conservative governments have set their sights lower, by trying to forge closer ties with individual US states.
Now the civil servants responsible for delivering those state-level deals have been let go, in what a furious British businessman described as “an act of arson”.
Continue reading...Celebrities including Kit Harington, Deborah Meaden and Jason Manford back Keir Starmer’s party
Elton John has led a lineup of celebrities who have announced their support for Labour at the general election.
The singer-songwriter and his husband, David Furnish, joined actors Kit Harington and James Norton, singer Beverley Knight, comedian Jason Manford and businesswoman Deborah Meaden in bringing some stardust to a Labour supporters’ meeting held in the final days before next week’s poll.
Continue reading...Writing in the Observer, the Labour leader vows to restore the bond of trust with politics if his party wins Thursday’s general election
Keir Starmer pledges to “relight the fire” of optimism and hope among the British people – and rekindle their faith in politicians as public servants - if they come out in sufficient numbers and vote for a Labour government in Thursday’s general election.
Writing exclusively for the Observer with just days to go until polling day, the Labour leader says that after 14 years of the Tories “serving themselves”, restoring the “bond of respect between people and politics” will be the precondition for a Labour government’s success.
Continue reading...Annual LBGTQ+ celebration takes place with march between Hyde Park and Trafalgar Square
Crowds gathered in London on Saturday as part of the capital’s Pride celebrations, with a parade making its way from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square.
The mayor, Sadiq Khan, walked at the front of the march alongside his wife, Saadiya, as well as Andrew Boff, a Conservative London assembly member, and Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, an air quality campaigner.
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