Category Archives: UK news

UK galleries rushed to diversify art after Black Lives Matter, artist says

Posted on by

South Africa-born painter Gavin Jantjes says institutions tried to buy work they ignored decades earlier

British arts institutions deployed “kneejerk” and “stopgap” responses in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter movement as they attempted to avoid criticism for the lack of diversity in their collections, according to the artist Gavin Jantjes.

The South Africa-born artist, who was a key figure during the British black art movement of the 1980s, told the Guardian that under-pressure organisations approached him to buy work that they had ignored since it was made decades earlier.

Continue reading...

Labour pledges to investigate treatment of migrant workers in care sector

Posted on by

Exclusive: Yvette Cooper says a Labour government would instruct new enforcement body to act over alleged exploitation of workers

Labour will launch an investigation into the treatment of migrant workers in the British social care sector if it wins the election, the party has announced, after dozens of cases of alleged exploitation were uncovered.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, called the allegations revealed by the Guardian “a disgrace”, accusing the government of turning a blind eye to the problem.

Continue reading...

Falling UK inflation not leading to rise in spending, report finds

Posted on by

May recorded the lowest spending growth since February 2021, Barclays’ snapshot of card activity shows

Consumer spending growth is at its weakest in more than three years as higher council tax bills and the rising cost of broadband and mobile phones eat into household budgets, a report has said.

The monthly snapshot of credit and debit card activity from Barclays found an improvement in consumer confidence as a result of falling inflation was not leading to a pickup in spending.

Continue reading...

Tribunal cases to rise as UK firms push back on remote working, experts say

Posted on by

Some employers emboldened by ruling against FCA manager’s claim over working at home full-time

Lawyers and HR experts expect an increase in employment tribunal cases as companies increasingly clamp down on working from home and staff become resentful that the flexibility they have enjoyed since the pandemic is being slowly rolled back.

A number of companies are now advocating a full five-day return to the office, with others enforcing a minimum number of days in the workplace. Administrative staff at Boots, who previously worked in the office three days a week, will return to the office five days a week from September. Many US banks, such as Goldman Sachs, also expect senior staff to come in for the full week, and its chief executive, David Solomon, labelled remote working an “aberration”.

Continue reading...

English pupil funding at same level as when Tories took power, study finds

Posted on by

Real-terms funding per pupil at 2010 levels, teacher pay at 2001 levels, and building investment 25% below mid-2000s

Spending on each schoolchild’s education in England has suffered an unprecedented 14-year-freeze since the Conservatives came to power, according to Britain’s leading economics thinktank.

Funding per pupil is now at 2010 levels in real terms, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said in its latest analysis of school spending, while teacher pay was at about the same real-terms level as in 2001.

Continue reading...

Artificial cornea implant saves sight of man, 91, in NHS first

Posted on by

Cecil Farley says implant, which could become standard treatment, means he can still see his wife of 63 years

A 91-year-old man who became the first patient in England to have his sight saved by an artificial layer in his cornea has praised the procedure for allowing him to still see his wife.

Cecil Farley, from Chobham in Surrey, had problems with his right eye for about 15 years before losing his vision. He required a cornea transplant to save his sight but his previous surgery – a graft with a human cornea – failed and doctors warned the next might too. And the shortage of human corneas from deceased donors meant Farley faced a year-long wait.

Continue reading...

SNP says Scottish Labour is rewriting party’s spending plans in TV debate

Posted on by

John Swinney claims Anas Sarwar not keeping to Rachel Reeves’s constraints on NHS, schools and renewables funding as leaders clash

The SNP has accused Scottish Labour of “completely rewriting” Rachel Reeves’s spending plans, as the party leaders took part in the first televised debate of the election campaign.

The clash between the the SNP, Scottish Labour, Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Liberal Democrats was screened by STV, without a studio audience, and involved intensive cross-examination of each leader by his political rivals.

Continue reading...

Zara Aleena family ‘tortured’ by thought death was preventable, inquest told

Posted on by

Law graduate’s murder by Jordan McSweeney in 2022 highlights ‘the crumbling justice system’, jury hears

The family of Zara Aleena, who was sexually assaulted and murdered in east London while walking home after a night out, has been “tortured” by thoughts her “death was preventable” – and that a “crumbling justice system” contributed to it.

As a jury-led inquest into the death of the 35-year-old law graduate opened at Walthamstow coroner’s court on Monday, her aunt Farah Naz, read a statement saying: “Since her death we have been campaigning so that our daughters, sisters, friends can be safe and protected as Zara never was. This is Zara’s legacy.”

Continue reading...

General election: Keir Starmer says ‘new age of insecurity has begun’ in speech on defence and security – UK politics live

Posted on by

Labour leader says ‘postwar era is over’ as he never expected to see ‘the rumble of war’ in Europe and adds that cybersecurity warfare is a threat

Keir Starmer will be speaking shortly on defence and security. The Labour leader is expected to reaffirm his commitment to a “triple lock” for the UK’s nuclear deterrent, and his aim to raise defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product “as soon as resources allow”.

Labour’s nuclear deterrent triple lock includes a commitment to construct four new nuclear submarines in Barrow-in-Furness, maintaining Britain’s continuous at-sea deterrent, and the delivery of all future upgrades needed for the submarines to patrol the waters.

It’s certainly true that since the botched Brexit deal was put in place, many of our businesses – exporters of food, fish, agricultural products in particular – have really struggled with the additional paperwork.

What Labour has set out is our ambition to have a veterinary agreement with the EU. That’s an agreement that New Zealand has with the EU, that removes the paperwork on food and drink exports. That would make a substantial difference to fishers and farmers right across the UK

Continue reading...

Women in England and Wales denied ‘exciting’ drug that can stop breast cancer spreading

Posted on by

Latest study shows Enhertu, rejected by Nice, can stall growth of tumours by a year, longer than standard chemotherapy

Thousands of women with advanced breast cancer in England and Wales are being denied a drug that cuts the risk of the disease spreading by more than a third.

Enhertu has been rolled out to patients with HER2-low breast cancer in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has rejected it for patients in England. Women in Wales are also being denied the drug.

Continue reading...

Colin Gibb, singer with Black Lace, dies aged 70

Posted on by

Musician who had huge 1984 hit with Agadoo had retired last month

Colin Gibb, who had huge success as a core member of novelty pop band Black Lace, has died aged 70.

His wife Sue Kelly announced the news on Facebook, writing: “I love you Colin … we were due to retire to Spain on Thursday, you were so happy, so looking forward to our new life, now you’re gone. As we used to say, always love you forever.”

Continue reading...

‘He’ll be proud’: work starts on Rob Burrow motor neurone disease centre in Leeds

Posted on by

Grief and adoration at ceremony just day after death of rugby league great, who dedicated last years to help others with disease

A blue mural on a wall close to Headingley stadium in Leeds bears the words of Rob Burrow: “In a world full of adversity, we must dare to dream.”

The former Leeds Rhinos rugby league scrum-half died on Sunday, five years after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

Continue reading...

What constituency am I in?: new boundary map for UK general election – and how changes may affect you

Posted on by

Boundary changes mean the 2024 British general election will be fought in altered seats. Enter your postcode to see a map of your constituency and how these seats would have voted in 2019

The general election on 4 July will be fought across 650 new constituencies after boundary changes were approved by parliament.

With only 77 constituencies remaining unchanged, the boundary review changes which seat many people will be voting in. Not only does it mean that seats may have a new name, but geographical changes to seat boundaries many also mean that historical knowledge of voting patterns may be irrelevant, having implications for those hoping to vote tactically.

Continue reading...

Washington Post: Telegraph veteran to take over from Sally Buzbee as executive editor

Posted on by

First woman in the role to be replaced by Telegraph deputy editor, Robert Winnett

A veteran of the UK’s Daily Telegraph is to become executive editor of the Washington Post, replacing Sally Buzbee, who is stepping down after three years at the top of one of the US’s most respected news brands.

Buzbee, the first woman to hold the post, will be initially replaced by the former Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Matt Murray, until this autumn’s presidential election. Robert Winnett, currently the deputy editor of the Telegraph Media Group, will then take over the role.

Continue reading...

Minority ethnic heart failure patients ‘36% more likely to die’ in UK

Posted on by

Study also finds people from ethnic minorities with atrial fibrillation more than twice as likely to die than white patients

Minority ethnic patients with heart failure are more than a third more likely to die than their white counterparts, according to research.

The study, by researchers at the University of Birmingham and supported by the British Heart Foundation, looked at data from more than 16,700 people from 12 existing clinical trials for heart failure patients.

Continue reading...

Three charged with invading pitch during Champions League final

Posted on by

Yevhenii Lubnenko, 29, David Carneckij, 28, and boy, 16, accused of going on Wembley pitch during match

Three people have been charged with invading the pitch during the Champions League final at Wembley on Saturday, the Metropolitan police said.

Yevhenii Lubnenko, 29, David Carneckij, 28, and a 16-year-old boy are accused of going on to the playing area at a football match contrary to section 4 of the Football (Offences) Act 1991.

Continue reading...

John Swinney says SNP facing its biggest challenge for years

Posted on by

Leader launches party’s election campaign as polling suggests it will pay high price for recent woes

John Swinney has described July’s general election as “the biggest challenge the SNP has had for years” as he used his party’s official campaign launch to repeatedly attack Labour, which is threatening the nationalists in dozens of seats across Scotland.

Swinney, who told the rally of more than 200 activists and former MPs in Glasgow that it was a “surprise” to be leading the SNP into an election campaign, added that “voters are right to remind us never to take anything for granted”.

Continue reading...

Tories will allow bars on trans women, says Kemi Badenoch

Posted on by

Conservatives would change law so trans people could be excluded from single-sex spaces, if party wins election

Kemi Badenoch has said the Conservatives will change the Equality Act to rewrite the definition of sex and allow organisations to bar transgender women from single-sex spaces, including hospital wards and sports events.

The party will make clear that the protected characteristic of sex means biological sex, enabling those who wish to bar male-bodied people from organisations or activities to do so.

Continue reading...

With policy battle lines set, Sunak and Starmer prepare for TV combat

Posted on by

With PM as underdog hoping to use TV debates for comeback, Labour leader is also preparing for election to turn personal

When the history of Keir Starmer’s resurrection of the Labour party comes to be written, one of the most important turning points will be the decision to start playing the man, not the ball, when it came to Boris Johnson and Partygate.

Rishi Sunak’s key weak spot in the leader debates this election is his career as a hedge fund partner at the time of the financial crisis. Labour believes the prime minister’s account of his past will be a fundamental test, given he has built his reputation on his economic competence.

Continue reading...

Keir Starmer to declare Labour as ‘party of national security’

Posted on by

Leader says he is committed to triple lock for UK’s nuclear deterrent and will raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP

Keir Starmer will declare Labour is the “party of national security” as he seeks to switch the focus of the general election campaign to issues of defence.

The Labour leader will reaffirm his commitment to a “triple lock” for the UK’s nuclear deterrent, and his aim to raise defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product “as soon as resources allow”.

Continue reading...