Category Archives: UK news

Cambridge University reportedly could drop Barclays in favour of greener bank

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UK lender is a major European funder of oil and gas projects and university has said it does not want to back fossil fuel expansion

Cambridge University could cut ties with Barclays after more than 200 years over the bank’s refusal to stop financing new oil and gas projects, according to the Financial Times.

It reported that Cambridge is looking for an institution with robust climate policies to manage “several hundred million pounds” in cash and money market funds – a mandate expected to cover more than £200m in assets and generate about £10m in fees a year.

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Tweaks to law on spiking ‘won’t help’ unless police attitude changes, say experts

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Home Office plans wording ‘update’ but campaigners call for new offence to help address low conviction rate

The Home Office has announced plans to “modernise” spiking laws in a move it claims will help bring perpetrators to justice. But experts said the changes will not make any difference without simultaneous investment in police training and other measures to improve the handling of cases on the ground.

Under plans unveiled this weekend, the government will amend the criminal justice bill to make clear that spiking is illegal. It is also drawing up new guidance to provide an “unequivocal” definition of the crime.

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Favourites Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola win this year’s Strictly Come Dancing

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The ex-Coronation Street actor grew and grew over the series, while her partner went one better than his runner-up placing last year

It was a night of high-quality hoofing, high scores and high camp but ultimately, the Strictly Come Dancing final went the way that bookmakers predicted. Odds-on favourite Ellie Leach and her professional partner, Vito Coppola, were crowned champions. As they lifted the glitter ball trophy and sparkly confetti fell, it made a fitting climax to another feelgood series.

Former Coronation Street actor Leach, 22, had blossomed before viewers’ eyes. Initially an unfancied contender, she visibly grew in confidence to become a pocket rocket performer.

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Labour lead slips to 13 points in poll that shows NHS is voters’ main priority

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Sunak’s approval increases slightly after surviving potential rebellion over Rwanda bill

Labour’s lead over the Conservatives is now at 13 points, the lowest since before the party conferences, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.

Both Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak’s approval ratings have stayed steady since they both saw a big hit to their ratings last week. Starmer’s net approval is now -9, while Sunak’s net approval is now -29, a 3-point increase from a week ago.

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Bournemouth v Luton abandoned after Tom Lockyer suffers cardiac arrest

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Premier League match halted and Luton Town captain was taken away on a stretcher, described as ‘alert and responsive’

Luton’s Premier League match at Bournemouth on Saturday was abandoned after their captain, Tom Lockyer, collapsed on the pitch after a cardiac arrest.

The match was stopped in the 59th minute as medics tended to Lockyer, who collapsed off the ball.

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Baker’s cake of cottage in Christmas film The Holiday is TikTok sensation

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Essex-based Bridie West’s edible creation based on setting in Cameron Diaz romcom got more than 1.2m views

An Essex cake baker has gone viral after making a cake version of a cottage that had a starring role in the Christmas movie The Holiday.

The clip of Bridie West meticulously piping butter cream over a cottage-shaped cake has garnered more than 1.2m views on TikTok and almost 50,000 on Instagram.

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Alex Batty back in UK six years after vanishing on holiday in Spain

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Teenager whose disappearance, aged 11, sparked an international police hunt, flies home after being found in France

Teenager Alex Batty has returned to the UK six years after disappearing while on holiday in Spain with his mother and grandfather, police said on Saturday.

Detectives told a press conference at Greater Manchester police HQ that the teenager, who was 11 when he went missing, met his step-grandfather at Toulouse airport earlier on Saturday before flying back to the UK.

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Alex Batty to return to UK six years after going missing during holiday

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Teenager believed to have been abducted by mother in 2017 was found in France earlier this week

Alex Batty, the British teenager who has been missing for six years, will return to the UK on Saturday afternoon.

The 17-year-old is expected to be reunited with his grandmother, Susan Caruana, his legal guardian, who has not seen her grandson since he disappeared in 2017.

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Lifetime Isas: calls to increase price cap that ‘fines’ first-time buyers

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People who want to buy property costing more than £450,000 say they unfairly face losing money

Campaigners are pressing for changes to a UK government scheme for would-be first-time buyers that “fines” people if they use it to buy a home costing more than £450,000.

Martin Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, is among those calling for an urgent revamp of the rules that apply to lifetime Isas, which let people save for a first home or for their retirement.

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Closure of primary school in Hackney highlights struggle of London families

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Residents ‘absolutely fuming’ about council’s decision to shut Colvestone primary and transfer its pupils

Helen Davis could not believe her children’s luck when Hackney council announced the borough’s first “21st-century street” was going to be built on the doorstep of their local school.

“It still makes me tingle just to think about it,” she said. “Colvestone primary school was going to be at the heart of this new, pedestrianised, green space. Pupils were going to be able to grow their own vegetables, run conservation projects and have outside play activities. They were even planning an outdoor classroom.”

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The Guardian and Observer charity telethon 2023: call our writers and donate

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Marina Hyde, John Crace and Polly Toynbee are among those ready to take your calls in support of refugees

Readers have the opportunity to talk to some of their favourite Guardian and Observer journalists on Saturday as part of the annual charity telethon, this year in support of refugees and asylum seekers.

Journalists including Marina Hyde, John Crace, Polly Toynbee, Owen Jones, Peter Bradshaw, Sali Hughes, Simon Hattenstone, Nosheen Iqbal, Zoe Williams and many more will be on hand to take your calls and donations.

Non-telethon donations can be made online by credit card, debit card or PayPal.

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Primary schools in England close, merge and shrink as pupil numbers fall

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London boroughs among hardest hit due to falling birth rate and family struggles with Covid and rising costs

Primary schools are being closed, merged and shrunk as councils across England respond to falling numbers of pupils due to the falling birth rate as well as family upheaval triggered by rising costs, Brexit and Covid.

London boroughs are among the hardest hit, with thousands of school places being lost, but the closures and cuts extend to other cities and areas as they adjust to fewer children being born or moving into their catchment areas.

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Bardonecchia in Italy trumps Bulgarian resorts as best value ski spot

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Piedmont town near French border is now best budget ski resort in Europe for adults, figures show

The ski resorts of Bulgaria have long been seen as the best option for British skiers hoping to hit the slopes on a budget. Borovets and Bansko might not have the glitz of Verbier, the after-ski buzz of St Anton, or the picturesque villages of the Trois Vallées, but as the solid, wallet-friendly option, Bulgaria has been unbeatable for more than a decade.

All that has changed, however, with the Bulgarian resorts this year being eclipsed by an unlikely budget rival: Bardonecchia in Italy. The Piedmont town, 96km from Turin and a few minutes’ drive from the border with France, is now the best value ski resort in Europe for adults, according to research.

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BBC shelves Question of Sport, blaming ‘funding challenges’

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Corporation halts production on world’s longest-running sport quiz after 53 years and says it is ‘not the final whistle’

The BBC is pulling Question of Sport, the world’s longest-running sport quiz, citing “funding difficulties”.

The show began in 1970 with David Vine as presenter, followed by David Coleman, Sue Barker and the current incumbent, Paddy McGuinness, who took over two years ago.

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Fortnum & Mason online customers hampered by service ‘glitches’

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Online shoppers at the upmarket London grocer complain about being billed twice and being on hold for nearly 90 minutes

Customers of the luxury grocer Fortnum & Mason have been complaining about difficulties placing orders and getting a response from customer services during a busy Christmas period for the retailer.

Some shoppers at the store, which holds a royal warrant and is famed for its Christmas hampers, have taken to social media and review websites to complain about being charged multiple times after repeating transactions thinking they had not gone through.

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Prince Harry’s victory puts the spotlight back on nervous newspapers

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The Duke of Sussex’s determination to have his day in court over phone hacking has once again lifted the lid on media standards

Prince Harry’s victory against the Daily Mirror has placed phone hacking and media standards back under the spotlight, 11 years after the conclusion of the Leveson inquiry.

While millions of pounds have been paid out to victims of phone hacking in the intervening years, they were largely via out-of-court settlements, which kept a lid on the reputational damage to the perpetrators.

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Tory donor’s firm paid for Sunak’s £16,000 one-way helicopter trip to Leeds

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Journey was paid for by The Phoenix Partnership, which has won £135m of contracts from NHS and government

Rishi Sunak took a £16,000 one-way trip to Leeds on a helicopter courtesy of a firm owned by Frank Hester, the Tory megadonor, taking the total for the prime minister’s donor-funded air travel to more than £100,000 this year.

The prime minister once again showed his fondness for short-haul air travel as he took a helicopter from Battersea to Leeds Bradford airport last month – a journey of about 90 minutes. The quickest train from London to Leeds takes about 2 hours and 13 minutes, and costs in the region of £60 off-peak.

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UK terror threat level under close review after foiled alleged attack plot in Europe

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Arrests in Germany and the Netherlands increase fears that Jewish institutions in the UK could be targeted by Hamas

Britain’s terror threat level is being kept under “very close” review amid concerns that extremist groups could target Jewish institutions in the UK, a day after German prosecutors said they had foiled a Hamas attack plot by making four arrests.

MI5 and counter-terror police indicated they were focused on whether the war in the Middle East could galvanise extremists into taking violent action, as Israel’s intense bombing of Gaza extends to its third month.

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Man jailed for at least 16 years over Speakers’ Corner gun attack plot

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Edward Little had travelled to London with £5,000 to buy weapon for attack on Christian preacher Hatun Tash

A dangerous extremist was 10 minutes from obtaining a gun that he wanted for an attack in Hyde Park in London when he was stopped in an armed police operation, a counter-terrorism chief has said.

Edward Little, 22, had travelled by taxi from his home in Brighton to London with £5,000 in cash when officers arrested him in September 2022.

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Alex Batty fled across Pyrenees after mother planned Finland move, French police say

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British teen allegedly kidnapped in 2017 told passing driver ‘I need a future’ after he was found in remote corner of France

A British teenager allegedly kidnapped by his mother six years ago fled across the Pyrenees after she announced plans to take him to Finland, French police have said.

Alex Batty, 17, told a passing driver “I need a future” after he was found in a remote corner of south-west France in the early hours of Wednesday, carrying only a skateboard and €100 in cash.

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