Equipment being trialled in Scotland extracts warmth from nearby water sources to provide homes with heating
Scientists in Edinburgh have developed a home heating system that draws its energy from the world’s most abundant resource: water.
The equipment can use sea water, rivers, ponds and even mine water to heat radiators and water for baths and showers, using the same technology as in air source heat pumps.
Continue reading...Party has put state-owned power company at centre of its plans for decarbonisation, security and energy bills
Labour is to put a government-owned power company at the heart of the UK’s energy system for the first time since the privatisation of the industry in 1990, in one of Keir Starmer’s boldest pledges so far.
Great British Energy, with £8bn of investment, forms the centrepiece of Labour’s promise to decarbonise the electricity supply by 2030. This would stop well short of any form of renationalisation: GB Energy would be a state-owned investment vehicle and company working alongside and often in partnership with the existing private sector suppliers. The plan is for it to be largely invisible to households, not offering electricity directly to consumers but financing and helping to build low-carbon infrastructure, from windfarms to – potentially – nuclear reactors.
Continue reading...As grim memory of world war fades, many people are anxious amid rise of nationalist, country-first rhetoric
Twenty-two British D-day veterans, the youngest nearly 100, crossed the Channel on Tuesday to mark this week’s 80th anniversary of the landings in Normandy, representing a thinning thread to the heroics of two or three generations ago when about 150,000 allied soldiers began a seaborne invasion of western Europe that helped end the second world war.
Ron Hayward, a tank trooper who lost his legs fighting in France three weeks after D-day, told crowds assembled in Portsmouth on Wednesday why he and other soldiers were there: “I represent the men and women who put their lives on hold to go and fight for democracy and this country. I am here to honour their memory and their legacy, and to ensure that their story is never forgotten.”
Continue reading...The lookalike actor who played the Queen for 50 years, including in Naked Gun and Austin Powers films, died on 2 June
Jeannette Charles, the British actor best known for her striking resemblance of Queen Elizabeth II that landed her roles in Naked Gun and Austin Powers, has died at the age of 96.
On Wednesday the actor’s daughter, Carol Christophi, announced her mother died on 2 June in a care home in Great Beddow, Essex.
Continue reading...Academic tortured in UAE tells families of Britons arrested in controversial circumstances abroad to go public promptly
Families of Britons arrested in controversial circumstances abroad should raise concerns promptly in public because Foreign Office “quiet diplomacy” is not effective, an expert has warned after the arrest of a former British Royal Marine in Dubai.
Matthew Hedges, a British academic who was detained and tortured in the United Arab Emirates in 2018, said the case of Matt Croucher, a military veteran held in the country for seven months, also showed how far the “international influence of the UK had disappeared” in the Gulf region.
Continue reading...Labour leader says PM’s tactics in Tuesday night TV debate show he is dishonest when put under pressure
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has been fined for speeding after being caught doing 73mph in a 60mph zone on the M1, PA Media reports. PA says:
Details of the case, dealt with under an administrative system called the single justice procedure, were revealed by the Evening Standard newspaper.
Davey wrote a letter of explanation in which he said he had tried to pay a speeding ticket issued by Bedfordshire police after he was caught speeding on the M1 near Caddington.
Continue reading...Labour leader accuses PM of ‘resorting to lies’ in TV debate, saying he ‘knew very well what he was doing’
Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of deliberately lying when he claimed Labour spending plans would increase taxes by £2,000, saying the prime minister’s tactics in Tuesday night’s TV debate showed he was dishonest when put under pressure.
Amid an increasingly bitter and personal war of words over the standout dispute in the debate between the prime minister and Labour leader, Starmer said be believed Sunak should be investigated for breaching the ministerial code.
Continue reading...Exclusive: ‘Massive’ discovery raises possibility that conditions for life were present almost from dawn of time
Astronomers have detected carbon in a galaxy observed just 350m years after the big bang, in observations that raise the possibility that the conditions for life were present almost from the dawn of time.
The observations, made by the James Webb Space Telescope, suggest that vast amounts of carbon were released when the first generation of stars exploded in supernovae. Carbon is known to have seeded the first planets and is a building block for life as we know it, but was previously thought to have emerged much later in cosmic history.
Continue reading...Scientists pinpoint driver of IBD and other disorders with work under way to adapt existing drugs to treat patients
Researchers have discovered a major driver of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and several other immune disorders that affect the spine, liver and arteries, raising hopes for millions of people worldwide.
The breakthrough is particularly exciting because the newly found biological pathway can be targeted by drugs that are already used, with work under way to adapt them to patients with IBD and other conditions.
Continue reading...Victoria Thomas Bowen, 25, charged with assault by beating and criminal damage over incident in Clacton on Tuesday
A 25-year-old woman has been charged with assault by beating and criminal damage after a milkshake was thrown at the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, after a campaign event in Clacton, Essex police said.
Victoria Thomas Bowen, 25, will appear at Colchester magistrates court on Tuesday 2 July, Essex police said.
Continue reading...Royals, politicians and military leaders begin two days of events to mark 80th anniversary of Normandy landings
The king has paid tribute to D-day veterans at a commemorative event in Portsmouth marking the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
Charles said their “stories of courage, resilience and solidarity” move, inspire and “remind us of what we owe to that great wartime generation – now, tragically, dwindling to so few”.
Continue reading...Chain once prided itself on selling the cheapest fuel but RAC analysis shows it is now the dearest
Asda is now the UK’s most expensive supermarket fuel seller, research shows, after the retailer’s private owners ditched its long-held pledge to be the cheapest on the market.
The retailer, which was bought by the billionaire Issa brothers and their private equity partner TDR Capital in 2021, charged an average 2.1p a litre more for unleaded petrol than rivals Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons at the end of May, according to an analysis by the RAC motoring organisation.
Continue reading...Small and medium-sized firms badly hit as huge drop in apparel sales helps fuel 18% slide in all-non food exports
UK exports of clothing and footwear to the EU have dived since Brexit, according to a new study that shows the extent to which complex regulations and red tape at the border have deterred firms from sending goods across the Channel.
Exports of clothing and footwear sold to EU countries have fallen from £7.4bn in 2019 to £2.7bn in 2023, helping fuel an 18% slump in sales of all non-food goods exports to countries covered by the EU single market, according to the consultancy Retail Economics and online marketplace Tradebyte.
Continue reading...Increasing numbers of children hungry and lack adequate clothing, with two-thirds of secondary teachers also supporting pupils
Eight in 10 primary schoolteachers in England are spending their own money to buy items for pupils who are increasingly arriving at school hungry and without adequate clothing, according to new research.
Almost a third (31%) of those who took part in the survey said they were seeing more hungry children in class, with 40% reporting an increase in pupils coming in without proper uniform or a warm winter coat, research by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) found.
Continue reading...Labour leader says prime minister’s claim he would raise people’s taxes by £2,000 is ‘nonsense’
The Guardian’s visuals team has produced an interactive boundary map for the UK general election which shows you if your constituency has been altered because of boundary changes. You can check it out here:
Ed Davey has been speaking about his party’s plan to provide free personal care for adults. The Liberal Democrats leader said he wants carers to have a special, higher minimum wage.
Continue reading...Leader of Barking and Dagenham council says he does not want allegations about his behaviour to be a ‘distraction’
Darren Rodwell, the controversial leader of Barking and Dagenham council, has withdrawn as a Labour candidate, saying he did not want allegations about his behaviour to be a “distraction”.
Rodwell’s candidacy was in doubt after it was not confirmed by Labour on Tuesday along with other names of people running to be MPs.
Continue reading...Labour leader tried to focus on the Tories’ record while the prime minister accused opponent of planning tax rises
Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer tore into each other’s election promises on tax and immigration in a fiery first TV debate of the campaign.
The pair exchanged barbs in an ill-tempered session before an ITV studio audience in Salford, where Starmer accused Sunak of being “the most liberal prime minister we’ve ever had on immigration” and pledged to keep the UK in the European convention on human rights.
Continue reading...Former lance corporal Matt Croucher was arrested seven months ago, accused of ‘illegally accessing telecommunications’
A former Royal Marines reservist awarded the highest medal for gallantry has reportedly been held in Dubai since November after being accused of spying.
The former lance corporal Matt Croucher, 40, was awarded the George Cross, which ranks alongside the Victoria Cross as the highest decoration for acts of bravery, in 2008 after risking his life and saving others by throwing himself on a grenade in Afghanistan.
Continue reading...Those with BMI of 35 and a comorbidity can now be prescribed tirzepatide and Nice says it is more effective than Wegovy
The medical treatment regulator for England has approved a second drug to combat obesity, giving patients and doctors what it says is a more effective alternative to semaglutide.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) issued draft guidance on Tuesday recommending that very obese people should be prescribed tirzepatide, which is marketed in the UK as Mounjaro.
Continue reading...Allwyn parent company says deal to buy 3% stake in Czech gas facility will cut final link with Kremlin-controlled energy firm
The billionaire owner of Allwyn, the company that runs the national lottery, will sever his last remaining ties with Russia’s state-owned energy company Gazprom by the end of June, more than two years after winning the UK’s largest public sector contract.
The Czech tycoon Karel Komárek, who owns Allwyn via his Switzerland-based holding company KKCG, has faced scrutiny over his links to Russia since wresting control of the 10-year licence to operate the lottery from Camelot in 2022.
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