Audiences should be ‘shocked and disturbed’ by the impact of theatre, says Schindler’s List and Harry Potter actor
Trigger warnings for theatre audiences should be scrapped because people should be “shocked and disturbed” by what they see, the actor Ralph Fiennes has said.
The warnings are issued before the beginning of a performance to alert audiences to upsetting or distressing content and have become increasingly commonplace in theatres.
Continue reading...Spotlight turns on seven executives who presided over Horizon contract that led to huge miscarriage of justice
Bosses at Fujitsu have collected about £37m in pay, bonuses and compensation for loss of office since the technology company won the contract to supply the software at the heart of the Post Office Horizon scandal, it has emerged.
Accounts going back 25 years reveal the seven-figure sums paid out to executives of the UK division of the Japanese-owned technology company, even as more than 900 people were prosecuted as a result of flaws in the system their company supplied.
Continue reading...Campaigners say renters served notices of increases of 30% to 60% in advance of cap and other emergency protections ending
Private tenants in Scotland are facing big rent rises and mass evictions as emergency protections expire at the end of next month, campaigners have warned.
The Scottish government has “in effect rubber-stamped rent increases from April”, says Ruth Gilbert, the national campaigns chair of the Scotland-wide tenants’ union Living Rent, while transitional measures are inadequate and confusing, leaving many unaware what their legal rights are.
Continue reading...Trade union Unite tells of concerns about 2025 contract to administer civil service pension scheme
Retired firefighters who were responsible for tackling blazes on military bases have been unable to access their full pension due to “numerous” blunders by the outsourcing group Capita, it has emerged.
Capita won a £525m contract to run the Ministry of Defence’s fire and rescue service in 2019, renaming it the Defence Fire and Rescue Project (DFRP) after the privatisation.
Continue reading...Escalation of conflict causing tensions within community and fears about war spreading to Iran
Iranians living in the UK have described deep divisions in the community since the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.
The deadly attack by Hamas in Israel on 7 October and the subsequent bombardment of Gaza have led to tense conversations among British Iranians, they say.
Continue reading...Irish state’s founding fathers killed and disappeared five times more people than Provisional IRA would do over 30 years
The Irish Republican Army’s executioners shot and secretly buried their victims in fields and bogs, leaving them to decay and enter the ranks of Ireland’s “disappeared”.
Some were British soldiers, others were suspected informers or turncoats. Uncertainty about their fate and the location of their remains added a cruel twist to a brutal conflict.
Continue reading...MPs find Treasury-affiliated bodies have engaged Horizon firm since damning 2019 high court judgment
The Japanese technology company Fujitsu, whose flawed technology for the Post Office led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of subpostmasters, is confirmed to have held contracts worth more than £3.4bn linked to the Treasury since 2019.
Figures published by the Commons’ treasury committee show £1.4bn of contracts were awarded to Treasury-affiliated organisations after a high court ruling in December 2019 over the company’s software. The judgment found that “bugs, errors and defects” in Fujitsu’s Horizon system could cause shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts.
Continue reading...Dinosaur-like creature that can cut through bone rescued from Urswick Tarn, near Ulverston
It’s been named Fluffy, but its spiky appearance and “nasty bite” means only the brave – or the foolish – would attempt to offer this particular turtle a cuddle.
The dinosaur-like creature, an alligator snapping turtle that can cut bones and is native to swamps and rivers in southern parts of the US, was rescued from a tarn in Cumbria on Monday.
Continue reading...Senior Conservative says party has descended into ‘death spiral’ as poll losses set to fuel fresh attacks on Sunak’s leadership
Conservative MPs on Saturday night predicted fresh attacks on Rishi Sunak’s leadership within days, as they accused their own party of surrendering to Labour without a proper fight in two formerly safe Tory seats where byelections will be held this week.
MPs from across the party complained that losses in Wellingborough and Kingswood on Thursday had already been “priced in”, as one senior figure said defeatism had set in, with the party having descended into a “death spiral”.
Continue reading...Inspired by French action, British campaigners say they will continue slow tractor protests after Dover roads were blocked
Farmers say there will be further French-style blockades following a slow tractor protest at Dover against low supermarket prices and cheap food imports from post-Brexit trade deals.
Around 40 tractors and other farm vehicles blocked roads around the Kent port for several hours on Friday evening by driving slowly and carrying signs with slogans such as “No More Cheap Imports”.
Continue reading...Cake depicts Swift wearing a sweatshirt of the Kansas City Chiefs – her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s team
A baker who has created a lifesize Taylor Swift cake for Sunday’s Super Bowl said it was the “perfect opportunity” to finally get around to making it.
The cake sculpture by Lara Mason, from Walsall in the West Midlands, has racked up more than 3m views on TikTok.
Continue reading...Suella Braverman and a former priest accuse church but Justin Welby says its role has been mischaracterised
The Church of England has refuted a claim that it operated a “conveyor belt for asylum seeker fake conversions”, saying parish records disproved the eye-catching allegation.
Churches have been at the centre of a storm over “fake conversions” in the past week after it emerged that Abdul Ezedi, the Afghan man suspected of a chemical attack on a woman and two children in Clapham, was granted asylum on his third attempt after converting to Christianity. Police said on Friday that Ezedi was believed to be dead.
Continue reading...The Covid boom in pet ownership has led to operators offering plenty of pet-friendly accommodation. But is it really such a good idea?
Go on holiday without your best friend? For growing numbers of dog owners, it’s unthinkable.
Holiday operators have seen a big jump in guests booking accommodation that accepts dogs in recent months, and the trend is set to accelerate this year.
Continue reading...Leaders pay respects to former taoiseach of 1990s ‘rainbow coalition’ as he is laid to rest in Dunboyne
The former Irish taoiseach John Bruton has been described as a “humbling and unassuming” man at his state funeral, attended by senior political figures including the president, Michael D Higgins, and the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar.
Ministers, TDs and parliamentary ushers were among those who attended the service at Saints Peter and Paul’s church in Bruton’s home town of Dunboyne, County Meath.
Continue reading...Tributes paid to 66-year-old musician after Hertfordshire police confirmed he died in collision last week
The bassist Derrick McIntyre, who was part of the band Jamiroquai and lent his strings to songs by Emeli Sandé, Will Young and Beverly Knight, has died in a car crash aged 66.
Tributes have been paid to the musician after Hertfordshire police confirmed that McIntyre died in a collision involving five cars on 2 February. Police said McIntyre died at the scene and that two people were taken to hospital.
Continue reading...Entrepreneur Stuart Marks reportedly featured on – but was removed from – Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list
A major donor to the Conservative party who reportedly featured on Boris Johnson’s original resignation honours list is among 13 new peers announced by the government on Friday evening, eight of them Conservatives.
Stuart Marks, a technology entrepreneur who has served as a senior treasurer for the Conservatives, has been given a life peerage, an official announcement said. He has personally donated £119,500 to the party and another £56,500 through his company.
Continue reading...Low capital gains rate and US location of funds mean tax bill of £508,000 much less than under top income rate of 45%
Rishi Sunak paid more than half a million pounds in tax in 2023 after making a £1.8m profit on his holding in a US investment fund, a summary of his tax affairs shows.
The prime minister published the document on Friday, showing he paid a tax bill of £508,308 in the financial year 2022-23 on overall earnings and gains of £2.23m.
Continue reading...Researchers find large language models, which power chatbots, can deceive human users and help spread disinformation
The UK’s new artificial intelligence safety body has found that the technology can deceive human users, produce biased outcomes and has inadequate safeguards against giving out harmful information.
The AI Safety Institute published initial findings from its research into advanced AI systems known as large language models (LLMs), which underpin tools such as chatbots and image generators, and found a number of concerns.
Continue reading...Proposal to suspend safeguarding measures on certain products follows news of Tata’s Port Talbot closure plans
The government’s anti-dumping body has recommended that measures limiting the import of certain steel products be lifted after the decision to close the blast furnaces at Port Talbot.
The Trade Remedies Authority, which is charged with protecting UK industry from dumped or subsidised imports, said its preliminary view was to advise the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, to suspend safeguarding measures on imports of hot-rolled flat and coil steel for a temporary period of nine months.
Continue reading...Prime minister’s comments ‘remarkable’ given government cuts to town hall funding in England, say LGA bosses
Council leaders in England have criticised Rishi Sunak for demanding that local authorities show “restraint” in putting up council tax bills, saying the government is to blame for underfunding.
The prime minister on Friday called for authorities to be “restrained in the council tax rises they put in place”, saying it was “incumbent on local councils to be respectful of the demands on people’s family budgets”.
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