Pink top designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel among the famous items of clothing to be sold
A top worn by Diana, Princess of Wales for her engagement portrait in 1981 is among the items in an auction of famous clothing.
The pink crepe blouse with ruff-like collar and loose pleats to the front, worn by Diana, was captured by royal photographer Lord Snowdon and is being put up for sale by Julien’s Auctions.
Continue reading...PM says there is ‘much more to do’ on manifesto pledge to bring numbers as down as net migration to UK hits record high
Rishi Sunak has vowed to “clamp down” on immigration and conceded, in the face of growing Tory anger about his past performance, that there is “obviously a lot more to do” to reduce the record numbers of people emigrating to the UK.
Earlier this week, official figures showed net migration is running at a record high, triggering Boris Johnson, Suella Braverman and other right-wing Conservatives to attack Sunak for failing to honour the government’s 2019 Tory manifesto pledge to bring overall migration numbers down.
Continue reading...Opinium poll for the Observer reveals the public is unimpressed with Jeremy Hunt’s attempt to woo them by trimming national insurance
Rishi Sunak has received no poll bounce after cutting taxes in last week’s autumn statement, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.
Following a week in which the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, described a reduction in national insurance as “the biggest tax cut on work since the 1980s” Labour’s lead has increased to 16 percentage points over the Tories.
Continue reading...Proposals to stop workers bringing dependants should be halted unless jobs are made more appealing to Britons, expert says
Read more: Fears over Tories’ plans to limit immigration
The government’s top immigration adviser has attacked plans to prevent overseas care workers from bringing family members to the UK, warning that to do so could be “very dangerous” for the social care sector.
Prof Brian Bell, who chairs the Migration Advisory Committee, said policies being pushed by immigration minister Robert Jenrick, which also include a cap on overseas care worker numbers, risked worsening the chronic staffing shortage. The end result, he warned, could be “lots of people won’t get care”.
Continue reading...Labour leader gives strongest hint yet of support for loan deal with Greece if his party wins next election
The Greek government has been assured by Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour party, that in the event of electoral victory next year he will not block a prospective arrangement to return the Parthenon marbles to Athens.
Speaking through aides before talks in London with the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Starmer gave his strongest hint yet of his support for a loan deal that would see the antiquities return to the country where they were carved 2,500 years ago.
Continue reading...Ex-cabinet minister set to hit back at inquiry after being made a scapegoat for government failings
Matt Hancock and his officials bombarded Downing Street with early warnings about Covid-19 but were treated with ridicule and contempt, according to senior Whitehall figures, who believe that the former health secretary is unfairly being made a scapegoat by civil servants and scientists during the official inquiry into the pandemic.
Attempts by the Department of Health, in mid to late January 2020, to raise the alarm were dismissed out of hand by senior staff working for the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, because they believed Hancock was mainly seeking publicity and exaggerating the dangers, the insiders say.
Continue reading...High tides and winds leave caravans ‘dangerously close to edge’ as area in Lowestoft declared unsafe
People have been evacuated from a Suffolk holiday park after part of a road collapsed and left some of the caravans “dangerously close to the edge”.
The coastguard was called to Pakefield Holiday Park in Lowestoft after high tides and wind eroded part of the beach.
Continue reading...The ex-para who advised Ridley Scott on the new movie’s battle scenes claims historians who attacked it have fallen for Bonaparte’s own hype
Critics of the “damaging” and “inaccurate” portrayal of Napoleon Bonaparte in Ridley Scott’s new cinematic epic Napoleon are just victims of the French emperor’s enduring propaganda, according to the military adviser behind the film’s vast battle scenes.
Paul Biddiss claims that “Old Boney”, as he was known to the Duke of Wellington’s British troops, was promoted largely because he elaborated on his own successes. Bonaparte’s fibs impressed all France and intimidated his enemies – until, that is, he met his Waterloo in 1815.
Continue reading...Office for Budget Responsibility says UK entry into the Indo-Pacific agreement will add just 0.04% to GDP in the long run
The UK’s flagship trans-Pacific trade deal, which was presented as a cornerstone of post-Brexit “global Britain”, will deliver even less benefit to the economy than the tiny uplift that was previously predicted, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.
In a report accompanying last week’s autumn statement, the OBR said the UK’s entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) would add just 0.04% to GDP in the “long run”, which it defines as after 15 years of membership.
Continue reading...Home Office data reveals impact of end of free movement and raises questions over Border Force hostility
The number of EU citizens refused entry to the UK since Brexit has increased fivefold, Home Office figures show.
In the first three quarters of 2019 just over 2,200 people from the EU were turned away at the border – compared with 11,600 in the first three quarters of 2023.
Continue reading...Concerns echo White House remarks that blocking human rights laws could undermine Northern Ireland peace process
Rishi Sunak risks ripping up the Northern Ireland peace process if he blocks human rights laws so the UK can deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, senior Conservatives have said.
After similar concerns from the White House on Thursday, the MPs said widely reported plans from Downing Street to disregard parts of the Human Rights Act could undermine the Good Friday agreement and damage UK-US relations.
Continue reading...Consumers report problems using bank’s app on one of the busiest shopping days of year, Black Friday
Thousands of HSBC customers reported they were unable to access its online and mobile banking services on one of the busiest online shopping days of the year – Black Friday.
More than 4,000 customers said they could not access their accounts via the HSBC app on Friday, according to Downdetector, which tracks and collates website outages and complaints.
Continue reading...Officers were called to an address in Dagenham, east London where they found 40-year-old and two firearms
A man who told officers he had firearms and was going to harm himself has died in a police shooting in east London.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is investigating the incident in Dagenham.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Louie Turnbull pleads guilty to owning dangerously out of control animals after they attacked woman’s dog by east London canal
A man whose two dogs were shot dead by police in front of him has been given a suspended sentence for owning dangerously out of control animals.
Viral footage circulated on social media of Metropolitan police officers killing Louie Turnbull’s canines beside an east London canal in May this year.
Continue reading...Force’s boss called prosecution of PC Paul Fisher over crash while racing to Streatham stabbings ‘appalling’
A police officer who was cleared of dangerous driving after crashing while racing to the scene of a terrorism attack may still face the sack, the Guardian has learned.
PC Paul Fisher was acquitted by a jury at Southwark crown court on Friday, leading the Metropolitan police commissioner to describe his ordeal as “appalling”.
Continue reading...Organisers of London protest against anti-Jewish hatred demand that far-right leader stays away, after he claimed to support it
Organisers of a march against antisemitism billed as Britain’s biggest since the second world war have demanded that the far-right leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon stay away.
Yaxley-Lennon, who uses the name Tommy Robinson, has claimed to support the aims of the march through central London due to be held this Sunday.
Continue reading...Second biggest force in England and Wales accused of carrying out poor investigations and failing victims of crime
West Midlands police said they did not deserve the humiliation of being placed into special measures, as the official watchdog declared it was failing victims and needed extensive improvement.
The second biggest force in England and Wales, based in Birmingham, is accused by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) of carrying out poor investigations into crimes, leading to poor results for victims.
Continue reading...Apparently incorrect use of a basic tool shows the prime minister is out of touch with everyday life, Labour suggests
It may not be the most complicated of tools to master. But Rishi Sunak was mocked on social media for ostensibly having difficulty handling a hammer – after being told to use it sideways as part of a craft session.
Sunak was taking a lesson in hammering jewellery in Farsley in West Yorkshire during a visit.
Continue reading...Operator of P&O Cruises and Cunard fleets agrees to consult with seafarers’ union over any proposed changes to employment contracts
Carnival UK has committed not to fire and rehire its cruise ship staff, after it was revealed that the company had made provisions to potentially dismiss and re-engage more than 900 seafarers on its P&O Cruises and Cunard fleet.
The cruise operator’s Bermuda-based employment firm last week notified authorities including the UK Insolvency Service of a consultation to vary the terms and conditions of 919 maritime workers across its 10 UK-based ships.
Continue reading...Former first minister successfully sued over handling of original allegations against him in 2018
Alex Salmond is launching a fresh legal action against the Scottish government over its botched handling of sexual harassment complaints against him.
Following a report in the Herald on Friday morning, the former Scottish National party leader and first minister released a statement in which he said “not one single person has been held accountable” for how the harassment inquiry was conducted, despite a judicial review in 2019 ruling it was unlawful and “tainted by apparent bias”.
Continue reading...