Category Archives: UK news

Palestinian citizen of Israel granted UK asylum in case said to be unprecedented

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‘Hasan’, 24, argued he would face persecution in Israel on grounds of his race, faith and its ‘apartheid regime’

A Palestinian citizen of Israel has been granted asylum in the UK after claiming he would face persecution in his home country on the grounds of his race, his Muslim faith and his opinion that Israel “is governed by an apartheid regime”.

“Hasan”, whose real identity is not being disclosed for his own protection, has attended pro-Palestinian protests in the UK, and his lawyers also argued that his activism would place him at increased risk of hostile attention on his return.

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Diane Abbott says it is ‘frightening’ to hear what Tory donor Frank Hester said about her – UK politics live

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Hackney MP says she feels more vulnerable after Tory donor said looking at her makes you ‘want to hate all black women’

Kwasi Kwarteng, the Conservative former chancellor, has said that the remarks about Diane Abbott attributed to Frank Hester were clearly racist and sexist. But he said he did not know for sure that Hester actually used those words.

Speaking on the BBC’s Politics Live, Kwarteng said:

[Those comments] are clearly racist, and they’re clearly sexist.

And I think Diane [Abbott] was right to point out that the call to violence, even in a flippant way, is really inappropriate. So they were very stupid remarks.

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Virgin Money bosses in line for £6m if Nationwide takeover goes ahead

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Chief executive David Duffy would be biggest winner on £3.5m, with large paydays for about 12 other staff if deal goes through

Banking bosses at Virgin Money are in line for a £6m windfall if Nationwide Building Society pushes ahead with a proposed takeover of the lender, with more than half of that sum set to be pocketed by longtime chief executive David Duffy.

Public shareholder data suggests that 13 executives, board members and senior staff are poised for big paydays from the potential £3bn deal, after accumulating stock through years of service at Virgin Money, which was co-founded by billionaire Sir Richard Branson in 1995.

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UK pressing for ‘full explanation’ of alleged abuses after Gaza hospital raid

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Andrew Mitchell responds to Labour question in Commons about reports of Israeli mistreatment of medical staff

A UK Foreign Office minister has called for an investigation into a report that medical staff in Gaza faced violent and humiliating treatment in detention after an Israeli raid.

Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis – at the time the largest functioning hospital in the Palestinian territory – was raided over several days by Israeli forces in an attack that began on 15 February.

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‘I’ve seen solid waste float by’: Surrey riverside residents try to Stop the Poo

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The sewage treatment works at Horley seem to be crumbling, much like owner Thames Water itself

The brochure boasts of a family-friendly community located in tranquil green space within easy reach of high-speed links to London.

However, the residents of a new development of 1,500 homes in Horley, Surrey, have recently set up a WhatsApp group, whose title illustrates a less attractive feature of the community: Stop the Poo.

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Come clean on secret taxpayer rescue plans for Thames Water, MP demands

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Exclusive: Sarah Olney to press in parliament for details of scheme being drawn up in event of supplier’s collapse

Ministers must come clean on the secret details of an emergency plan for a taxpayer bailout in the event of Thames Water collapsing, a Liberal Democrat MP has said.

Sarah Olney will press in parliament this week for details of a behind-the-scenes rescue operation being drawn up for the biggest privatised water company in England. Olney said keeping the details of the contingency plan secret amounted to a cover-up.

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Up documentary series voted most influential UK TV show of last 50 years

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Programme that follows the lives of 14 children at seven-year intervals tops Broadcasting Press Guild’s 50th anniversary chart

The groundbreaking Up documentary series has been voted the programme that changed television the most over the past 50 years in a poll of the country’s leading TV writers.

The series, which follows a group of children from different social backgrounds and documents their progress every seven years, topped a list of the the most influential shows from the last five decades compiled by the Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG).

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Palestinian aid agency funding will stay frozen until reports received, says UK

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US, UK and Australia and others will decide on Unrwa support only after seeing reports on Israeli claims, says Foreign Office minister

Countries including the US, UK, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and Australia will not take a decision on ending the suspension of funding to the Palestinian relief works agency Unrwa until they have seen two interim reports on the organisation, the UK Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell has said.

Mitchell’s remarks put back a decision on the funding for weeks, and runs counter to the decision by Sweden, Canada and the EU to resume funding the agency.

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Foreign Office official floated idea of giving honour to fixer for Saudi royals

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Salah Fustok alleged by UK prosecutors to have been a middleman for nearly £10m in payments to Saudi prince

A Foreign Office official floated the idea of giving an honour to a businessman who was later alleged to have helped facilitate millions of pounds of bribes to a Saudi prince and his high-ranking associates.

Salah Fustok was alleged by UK anti-corruption prosecutors to have been a middleman for nearly £10m of payments to Prince Miteb bin Abdullah and other Saudi officials as “an inducement or reward” for the awarding of a contract by the Saudi Arabian national guard.

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Ava Pickett’s drama of female friendship in Tudor England wins Susan Smith Blackburn prize

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Pickett’s ‘very funny and very angry’ play 1536 follows three women as they discuss the arrest of Anne Boleyn

The British playwright Ava Pickett has won this year’s Susan Smith Blackburn prize for female, transgender and non-binary playwrights.

Pickett’s winning play, 1536, unfolds in Tudor Essex and follows three women as they discuss the news of Anne Boleyn’s arrest. Pickett called it a “very funny and very angry play” about female friendship. In a ceremony at the Royal Court theatre in London on Monday, she was awarded $25,000 (£19,900) and a signed print by Willem de Kooning.

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‘Tallest jockey in the world’ has rival for the title at Cheltenham

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Thomas Costello, who at 6ft 4in is same height as Jack Andrews, says ‘people in weighing room looked at me like I had four heads’

You don’t come across many lofty figures in the weighing rooms of the UK’s racecourses but two jockeys standing at a (relatively) towering 223cm (6ft 4in) will rub shoulders when the Cheltenham festival begins on Tuesday.

Jack Andrews, 25, from Warwickshire, rose to fame last year when he was billed as the tallest jockey in the world during his appearance at the festival, but this week has a rival for the title – Thomas Costello, from County Clare in Ireland.

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Bitcoin price nears $73,000 in fresh record high

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Cryptocurrency rises as UK financial regulator says it will allow trading of crypto-backed securities

Bitcoin has reached a new record price of almost $73,000 (£57,000), as the UK financial regulator said it would allow the trading of cryptocurrency-backed securities.

The cryptocurrency hit a fresh high of $72,720 as of Monday evening having last week overtaken its previous November 2021 high of nearly $69,000.

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Biggest Tory donor said looking at Diane Abbott makes you ‘want to hate all black women’

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Exclusive: Remarks by Frank Hester, who has given £10m to the party in the past year, raise questions over his workplace behaviour

The Conservative party’s biggest donor told colleagues that looking at Diane Abbott makes you “want to hate all black women” and said the MP “should be shot”, the Guardian can reveal.

Frank Hester, who has given £10m to the Tories in the past year, said in the meeting that he did not hate all black women. But he said that seeing Abbott, who is Britain’s longest-serving black MP, on TV meant “you just want to hate all black women because she’s there”.

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‘Multiple frames were likely used’: the royal photo’s telltale signs of editing

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Guardian’s imaging team identifies 20 anomalies with the picture that may require further inquiry

The release of the first official picture of the Princess of Wales and her three children since her operation was undoubtedly meant to end speculation about her recovery. But that has backfired spectacularly after the princess was forced to admit she had edited it.

Catherine apologised on Monday after the manipulation of the picture led international picture agencies to refuse to distribute it on grounds of editorial standards.

1. Jumper cuff does not match wrist edge.
2. Blurred edge detail jolts from one line to another.
3. Definitively inconsistent detail at base of jumper.
4. Strong horizontal line running through hair and jacket zip, indicating different focus and detail.
5. Visible selection lines within lower hair areas.
6. Edge of knee detail potentially blurs too quickly for the depth of field.
7. Suspect/soft bend of hair leading to the shoulder.
8. Abrupt hair detail.
9. Cloning repetition detail.
10. Visible selection lines and hard edges with the hair interacting with the soft blue jumper.
11. Rogue cloning detail.
12. Suspect vertical detail transitioning at edge of red jumper.
13. Sharp horizontal line running through soft window frame detail.
14. Sharp horizontal and vertical patches on window pane.
15. Inside finger “V” edge does not match.
16. Visible selection lines and hard edges with the hair interacting with the soft blue jumper.
17. Rogue sharp detail on soft arm area.
18. Ambiguous edge detail above thumbnail.
19. Sharp vertical line running through soft jumper detail.
20. Ambiguous due to shallow depth of field, hand and jumper detail softer than immediately surrounding areas.

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Home Office to accept calls for inquiry into asylum seeker centre, say sources

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Ministers said to have dropped opposition to inquiry into alleged assaults and mistreatment of people at Manston centre

The Home Office is to concede to demands for a statutory inquiry into alleged assaults and mistreatment of asylum seekers at Manston processing centre, Whitehall sources have told the Guardian.

The move comes after the government spent a year fighting off demands in the courts for an independent figure to investigate chaos, which led to claims of violence, drug dealing and filthy conditions at the Kent camp.

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West won’t stop Houthi attacks unless it works with Yemeni authorities, say experts

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Calls for closer collaboration made after multiple Houthi drone strikes on ships in Red Sea over weekend

Western efforts to stop Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea will fail unless the US and its allies build stronger intelligence and military relations with the UN-recognised government in Yemen, politicians and experts are warning.

Yemen’s ambassador to the UK has warned the Houthis have to be confronted and driven away from Red Sea ports such as Hodeidah. Similar calls were made by members of the Yemeni government coalition when they visited London last month.

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US defence contractor paid commissions to Saudi firm later alleged to be conduit for bribes

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Harris had longstanding relationship with ABTSS, later alleged by British prosecutors to have handled or received illegal payments

One of the largest military contractors in the US paid commissions to a Saudi company later alleged to have been a conduit for bribes for the kingdom’s royal family.

A document disclosed in a UK criminal trial revealed that Harris Corporation, now L3Harris, paid commissions to the Saudi company for over two decades for services in the kingdom.

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Vinyl records return to UK ‘inflation basket’ for first time since 1992

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Strong sales of Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) help format make an impact, as air fryers also join list

Not since Simply Red’s album Stars topped the albums chart in 1992 have vinyl records been included in the basket of goods used to calculate annual inflation, but a rise in sales over recent years has brought them back as a marker of UK shop prices.

The Office for National Statistics said the “resurgence of popularity” in vinyl records meant they should be included among the 744 items used to calculate inflation each month, in its latest annual shake-up of the basket.

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US investor Elliott ends bid to buy UK retailer Currys

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Bidder says multiple attempts to engage with high street group’s board were rejected

The US investment group Elliott has ended its bid to buy Currys after previous offers were rejected by the electrical goods retailer.

Elliott, which owns Waterstones, told the markets on Monday that it had made multiple attempts to engage with the Currys board but all had been rebuffed.

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Bitcoin hits new record high above $70,000; US investor ends Currys chase – business live

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Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as exchange-traded funds help biggest cryptocurrency rally

The European Commission’s use of Microsoft email and office software broke its own privacy rules, an EU privacy watchdog has ruled.

Microsoft’s software transferred personal data outside the EU, breaching privacy rules, according to the European Data Protection Supervisor.

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