Europeans are dying from hot weather 30% more than they did two decades ago, report finds
Scorching weather has baked Europe in more days of “extreme heat stress” than its scientists have ever seen.
Heat-trapping pollutants that clog the atmosphere helped push temperatures in Europe last year to the highest or second-highest levels ever recorded, according to the EU’s Earth-watching service Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Continue reading...For the first time, government military spending increased in all five geographical regions, Sipri thinktank finds
Global military expenditure has reached a record high of $2440bn (£1970bn) after the largest annual rise in government spending on arms in over a decade, according to a report.
The 6.8% increase between 2022 and 2023 was the steepest since 2009, pushing spending to the highest recorded by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) in its 60-year history.
Continue reading...Kennet Properties sells off Thames Water land, whose owner, Kemble Water, has warned it would not be able to pay a £190m loan
A development company that sells off land no longer needed by Thames Water has paid out a £14m dividend despite warnings that it could become engulfed by the embattled water group’s financial woes.
Accounts filed at Companies House show Kennet Properties paid out a £14.5m dividend during the year to 31 March 2023, despite the difficulties faced by the wider group, which is facing a potential administration.
Continue reading...Government auditors must look into claims of complicity in corruption on arms deals with UK, says Labour peer
Alleged Ministry of Defence complicity in the “national scandal” of bribery on arms deals in Saudi Arabia must be investigated by government auditors, a senior Labour politician has said.
Peter Hain, the antiapartheid campaigner and peer, said in a letter to the National Audit Office (NAO) that a “timely, targeted” investigation was now necessary after the conclusion of a major criminal trial.
Continue reading...Exclusive: NHS cost threshold has not been raised by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence since 2004
People with motor neurone disease have spoken of their devastation at a likely loss of access to a life-extending drug due to an NHS cost threshold that has not been raised since 2004.
Tofersen has slowed the progress of the illness in trials but the chances of the drug being recommended for use in England and Wales are said to be slim.
Continue reading...Scottish NHS boards have spent more than £125m since 2019 to provide temporary cover amid drop in consultant numbers
Mental health campaigners have protested about the significant use of temporary locum psychiatrists in Scotland, alleging that it leads to substandard and harmful medical care.
Peter Todd, a campaigner based in Caithness in the north of Scotland, said the heavy reliance on locum psychiatrists by the NHS was a sign of a growing crisis in mental health services across the country.
Continue reading...MP for Fylde announces he is resigning from the Conservative party and will not stand at next general election
The former Tory MP Mark Menzies is quitting parliament after allegations that he misused campaign funds.
The MP for Fylde announced that he would not stand at the next election after the allegations were referred to Lancashire police.
Continue reading...The Wyllieum will showcase work of ‘social sculptor’ who used humour to make serious criticisms of climate crisis and capitalism
He was the artist who sailed a paper boat past New York, set a straw locomotive on fire over the Clyde, and inserted a question mark into the word sculpture.
George Wyllie, a prolific, self-taught “social sculptor” who worked with steel, stone, wood and paper, used humour to make deeply serious criticisms of the climate crisis, capitalism and Britain’s industrial decline.
Continue reading...Patrick Harvie said party faces biggest crisis in its history after rebellion over climate policy
The co-leader of the Scottish Greens Patrick Harvie has admitted his coalition deal with the Scottish government could collapse after a rebellion by party activists over climate policy.
Harvie said the Scottish Greens faced the biggest crisis in their history after members forced the leadership to hold an emergency meeting on whether to remain in government with the Scottish National party.
Continue reading...Statement comes after Met police apologised for calling antisemitism campaigner ‘openly Jewish’
Being Jewish “should never be seen as provocative”, the government has said after a row over the policing of a pro-Palestine march.
In a video released by Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), the charity’s chief executive, Gideon Falter, who was wearing a kippah skull cap, was told by a Met officer at a pro-Palestine march last Saturday: “You are quite openly Jewish, this is a pro-Palestinian march. I’m not accusing you of anything but I’m worried about the reaction to your presence.”
Continue reading...Queens Park Ladies under-12s finished top of division three of the Bournemouth Youth Football League with 18 wins, four draws and no defeats
A girls’ football team has won a boys’ league after going unbeaten all season, earning them the “invincibles” title.
Queens Park Ladies under-12s finished top of division three of the Bournemouth Youth Football League with 18 wins, four draws and no defeats.
Continue reading...Alarm grows over possible pension cuts as research suggests Jeremy Hunt tax cut announcement was ‘blunder’
Labour is to wage a new campaign to win over Tory-supporting pensioners in an attempt to neutralise one of the government’s last remaining electoral strengths, amid evidence the Conservatives are now performing as badly among the age group as they did under Liz Truss’s leadership.
With less than a fortnight to go until local elections in England, which some Tories fear could trigger an attempt to topple Rishi Sunak, the Observer understands that Keir Starmer’s top officials are reorienting their campaign after detecting alarm among pensioners over the impact a Conservative tax-cutting pledge could have on pensions and the NHS.
Continue reading...Chris Stark, head of the Climate Change Committee, says Tories’ decision to dilute key green policies has had huge diplomatic impact
Rishi Sunak has given up Britain’s reputation as a world leader in the fight against the climate crisis and has “set us back” by failing to prioritise the issue in the way his predecessors in No 10 did, the government’s green adviser has warned.
Chris Stark, the outgoing head of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), said that the prime minister had “clearly not” championed the issue following a high-profile speech last year in which he made a significant U-turn on the government’s climate commitments. The criticism comes after Sunak was accused of trying to avoid scrutiny of Britain’s climate policies by failing to appoint a new chair of the CCC.
Continue reading...The paediatrician, who has been advised to stop using public transport, describes ‘straight disinformation’ about report
The doctor behind a landmark review of the NHS’s gender identity services for children and young people has said fears had been raised about her personal safety amid online abuse after the report’s release.
Dr Hilary Cass told the Times she wished to address the “disinformation” circulating about the findings and recommendations handed down by the Cass review when it was published on 10 April.
Continue reading...Infighting, suspensions and bizarre allegations have dogged efforts to restore order as the party prepares for May’s byelections
Less than two weeks before local elections that some senior Tories fear could unleash another party meltdown and an attempted putsch against Rishi Sunak’s leadership, Downing Street had hoped that Friday’s prime ministerial speech on the weighty issue of welfare reform might finally begin to restore the party’s reputation for competent governance.
It was a potent sign of Sunak’s struggles in keeping his party on track that, soon after his speech had concluded, some of his MPs found themselves discussing whether or not one of their colleagues had deliberately intoxicated a friend’s dog. “How can somebody possibly get a dog pissed?” wondered one. “Bizarre.”
Continue reading...Caribbean historians want Richard Drax to pay reparations – but now Barbados plans to buy his land for homes
The Conservative MP under fire for his ancestors’ role in Caribbean slavery is in line for a multimillion-pound payout from the Barbados government.
Despite threats to make Richard Drax pay reparations and seize his family’s plantation – described by one historian as a “killing field” of enslaved Africans – the government is now planning to pay market value for 21 hectares (about 15 football pitches) of his land for housing.
Continue reading...Navigation buoy sails 4,000 miles across Atlantic, joining storied history of wrecks upon shores of tiny Scottish island of Eriskay
From Bonnie Prince Charlie’s ill-fated 1745 landing, to the shipwreck of a whisky-laden cargo freighter two centuries later that inspired a bestselling novel and blockbuster movie, the tiny Scottish island of Eriskay has a rich and outsized history of notable maritime events.
Now, the arrival of a visitor from Florida following a 4,000-mile solo voyage across the Atlantic has added another curious chapter. It is a navigation buoy that slipped its mooring in the Florida Keys and rode the Gulf Stream to the British Isles, coming ashore in Eriskay and discovered by one of its 143 residents.
Continue reading...Force reviewing available information after claims that Menzies used political donations to pay off ‘bad people’
Allegations that the MP Mark Menzies misused campaign funds have been referred to Lancashire police. The force said it was reviewing the available information after receiving a letter “detailing concerns around this matter”.
The PA news agency understands that the Labour party chair, Anneliese Dodds, wrote to Lancashire police calling for an investigation into the allegations about Menzies.
Continue reading...Delays mean just £404m of the money donated by nine countries has been committed or spent
More than half of a £900m military fund for Ukraine run by the British Ministry of Defence has not been used because of bureaucratic delays in handing out contracts.
The UK-led International Fund for Ukraine counts nine countries among its donors. Critics claim its provision of weapons to the frontline has been slow.
Continue reading...Police officer had stopped Gideon Falter from walking near pro-Palestinian march while wearing kippah skull cap
The Metropolitan police has apologised after an officer used the term “openly Jewish” to an antisemitism campaigner who was threatened with arrest near a pro-Palestine march.
Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, was wearing a kippah skull cap when he was stopped from crossing the road near the demonstration in the Aldwych area of London last Saturday afternoon.
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