Category Archives: UK news

Full Monty actor Tom Wilkinson dies aged 75

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Family of Oscar-nominated British star announced his death on 30 December in a statement

The Oscar-nominated British actor Tom Wilkinson, best known for his role in The Full Monty, has died aged 75, his family have announced. His death was confirmed in a statement shared by his agent on behalf of his family.

The statement read: “It is with great sadness that the family of Tom Wilkinson announce that he died suddenly at home on 30 December. His wife and family were with him. The family asks for privacy at this time.”

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Three men die in south London house fire

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Two other men, thought to be Polish nationals, sustain life-threatening injuries as blaze destroys two-storey house in Croydon

A third man has died after a house fire in south London, police have said.

Another man sustained life-threatening injuries in the blaze that destroyed a two-storey end-of-terrace house on Friday night in Croydon, the Metropolitan police said.

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Labour pledges to ‘clean up politics’ after outrage over Liz Truss honours list

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Shadow front bencher says Keir Starmer would not have resignation honours after ‘appalling spectacle’ of ex-prime minister ‘rewarding cronies’

Labour last night promised there would be no resignation honour’s list issued by Keir Starmer if he were to become prime minister, as outrage grew over the list of peerages, knighthoods and other rewards showered by Liz Truss on those associated with her disastrous 49 days in office.

Shadow leader of the House, Lucy Powell, told the Observer: “The appalling spectacle of Truss rewarding her cronies for helping her crash the economy and cause mortgage misery for millions demeans politics.

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Keir Starmer ‘lacks clear sense of purpose’ claims Labour ex-policy chief

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Party historian MP Jon Cruddas questions readiness for power of leader with few ties to movement’s roots or ideology

A key centre-left Labour MP says Keir Starmer appears to lack a clear sense of purpose due to his detachment from his party’s traditions, and casts doubt on whether he can become one of its more successful prime ministers.

In A Century of Labour, a book published to mark 100 years since the formation of the first Labour government on 22 January 1924 under Ramsay MacDonald, Jon Cruddas says that Starmer – while clearly a “decent” and “principled” man – “remains an elusive leader, difficult to find”.

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Brexit has completely failed for UK, say clear majority of Britons – poll

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Only one in 10 feel leaving the EU has helped their finances, while just 9% say it has benefited the NHS, despite £350m a week pledge according to new poll

A clear majority of the British public now believes Brexit has been bad for the UK economy, has driven up prices in shops, and has hampered government attempts to control immigration, according to a poll by Opinium to mark the third anniversary of the UK leaving the EU single market and customs union.

The survey of more than 2,000 UK voters also finds strikingly low numbers of people who believe that Brexit has benefited them or the country.

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‘Not what I had in mind’: Eurostar cancellations leave thousands stranded

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Dismay at St Pancras International in London as services cancelled due to flooding of Thames tunnel

When Ilse Deurloo arrived at St Pancras station after a festive holiday with her boyfriend in London, she was shocked by the scenes of chaos and disruption as thousands of travellers were left stranded.

“This is not what I had in mind,” said Deurloo, 20, who was planning to return home to Amsterdam on Saturday. Her train, like all expected high-speed services between Ebbsfleet International and London St Pancras International, was cancelled due to flooding in a tunnel under the Thames. Thames Water said it believed the incident was caused by a fire control system malfunction.

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All Eurostar trains into and out of London cancelled due to flooding

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Southeastern trains on same route also affected, while windy conditions expected to sweep UK

Thousands of travellers faced disruption to their new year plans after all Eurostar trains in and out of London were cancelled on Saturday after “unprecedented” flooding in a tunnel on the line.

There were no high-speed services running between London St Pancras international and Ebbsfleet international in Kent on Saturday, and Southeastern trains on the same route were also suspended. A total of 41 Eurostar trains were cancelled.

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Scientists call for review of UK’s 14-day rule on embryo research

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Extending the limit could help uncover causes of recurrent miscarriage and congenital conditions, experts say

Scientists are calling for a review of the 14-day rule on embryo research, saying that extending the limit could help uncover the causes of recurrent miscarriage and congenital conditions.

Until now, scientists studying the earliest stages of life have been restricted to cultivating embryos up to the equivalent of 14 days of development. They can then pick up the path of development several weeks later, on pregnancy scans and from material donated from terminations.

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Rizz, Barbenheimer and hallucination: the breakthrough words in the Guardian in 2023

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‘I have limited rizz’ said an actor while Barbenheimer refers to the year’s most talked about films

Hallucination, Barbenheimer and acabó were among the new and breakthrough words of 2023, according to an analysis of the Guardian archive. And do you have “rizz”?

Dozens of new words appeared on the newspaper’s pages this year. And while the majority of these relate to people and placenames previously unrecorded on the news pages, some words were truly newly minted.

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‘An outstanding person’: tributes paid to former Team GB footballer Gemma Wiseman

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Wiseman, who has died at the age of 33, represented England and Great Britain’s deaf women’s teams

Tributes have been paid to former Team GB footballer Gemma Wiseman after her death at the age of 33.

Wiseman represented England and Great Britain’s deaf women’s teams and helped guide GB to third place at the 2016 World Deaf Football Championships.

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

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Man charged with murder over death of Chris Marriott in Sheffield

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Hassan Jhangur, 23, has been charged with the murder of man who was helping unconscious woman when he was hit by a car

Hassan Jhangur, 23, has been charged with the murder of Chris Marriott who was hit by a car after he went to the aid of an unconscious woman in Sheffield on Wednesday, South Yorkshire police have said.

Earlier, Marriott’s family said the circumstances of his death “show the sort of man he was”.

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Glastonbury founder and TikTok organist make new year honours list

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Singers, artists and co-founder of women’s fiction prize among members of arts world to be recognised

The co-founder of the Glastonbury festival, a bestselling novelist and an organ-playing TikTok sensation are among the recipients of New Year honours from the world of arts and culture.

Michael Eavis, 88, who first hosted the Pilton Pop, Blues & Folk festival at Worthy Farm in 1970, was recognised for services to music and charity.

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Tory MP says most struggling children in his area are ‘products of crap parents’

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Bury North MP James Daly makes remark while outlining what New Conservatives group stands for

A Conservative MP has claimed most children who struggle in his constituency are the “products of crap parents”.

James Daly, the MP for Bury North, was outlining what the New Conservatives group of MPs stood for when he presented his perspective on how important a family unit is in giving children “stability”.

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‘I didn’t know who to talk to’: MPs on the hidden toll on their mental health

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While a handful of politicians have openly discussed the stresses of their job, the scale of the problem appears far greater

It was a year after they were made a minister when the MP had the second breakdown of their political career, and realised they simply had no idea what to do next: “I was so terrified. I didn’t know who to talk to. There didn’t seem to be anybody I could trust.

“A family member told me to take time off. But as a minister if you were to say you needed time off sick, the whips would go, ‘Yeah, fine. We’ll get someone else to do your job.’ It’s often easier to keep your head down and pretend.”

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Banksy pays tribute to late comedian who trained Dismaland staff

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Artist says Tony Allen’s surly stewards ended up as the most talked about part of his 2015 ‘bemusement park’

Banksy has paid tribute to a late comedian who trained 100 teenagers to be “the most surly and incompetent employees in the history of hospitality” for his 2015 Dismaland exhibition.

In a rare step, the reclusive graffiti artist has written a piece recalling his time with the comedian Tony Allen, which was read on BBC Radio 4’s obituary programme, Last Word, on Friday.

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BBC likely to redact some of emails it must release over Martin Bashir scandal

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Broadcaster expected to use Freedom of Information Act to stop full disclosure, tribunal told

The BBC is expected to redact some of the almost 3,000 emails it must release about its handling of the Martin Bashir scandal, a tribunal has heard.

A judge told the broadcaster to hand over the material earlier this month, two-and-a-half years after the journalist Andrew Webb used freedom of information (FoI) laws to ask to see it.

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Mont Blanc avalanche kills British woman, 54, and son, 22, in French Alps

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Two were part of group skiing off-piste with instructor when avalanche occurred

A British woman and her son are reported to have died in the French Alps after an avalanche in the Mont Blanc mountain range.

The two were part of a group reportedly skiing far outside the designated slopes with an instructor when the avalanche, measuring 400 metres wide, occurred at an altitude of 2,300 metres near the ski resort of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains in the Haute-Savoie on Wednesday.

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UK weather: high winds to batter coasts of Wales and southern England

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New Year’s Eve revellers told to prepare for near-freezing conditions as parts of UK recover from Storm Gerrit

Gusts of up to 75mph (120km/h) are expected to batter the coasts of southern England and Wales this weekend as other parts of the UK continue to recover from the ravages of Storm Gerrit.

The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for high winds in the south-east, south-west, East Anglia and Wales from 11am on Saturday until 3am on Sunday, New Year’s Eve.

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NHS in England facing ‘storm of pressure’ as flu and Covid cases surge

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Average of 3,631 patients in hospital with Covid during Christmas week, data shows, a rise of 57% in a month

A surge in the number of flu and Covid admissions to hospitals in England is adding to a “storm of pressure” facing the health service, NHS leaders have said.

Figures released on Friday showed that in Christmas week, there were on average 3,631 patients with Covid in hospital, up 57% from the same week in November.

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