The first thing tiler Neil Jones bought with his £2.4m prize was a pool table, on which he honed his skills
A tiler whose first purchase after winning £2.4m on the national lottery was a pool table is about to experience his “proudest moment” as he prepares to represent his country at the European Pool Championships in Malta.
Neil Jones, 59, had just £13 in his pocket when he and his partner, Julie Kirkham, won the money just before Christmas 2010.
Continue reading...Latest blow leaves scandal-hit lobby group without a high-profile speaker at annual conference
The business secretary Kemi Badenoch has reportedly dealt another blow to the scandal-hit Confederation of British Industry (CBI) by turning down an invite to speak at the lobby group’s annual conference.
Badenoch’s team have told the CBI that she would not be able to address the conference due to scheduling clashes leading up to the chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement on 22 November, according to Sky News.
Continue reading...Mark Harper says police should use full force of the law, as Met chief due to meet Suella Braverman
The Metropolitan police will be asked to explain to the home secretary why they failed to take action against demonstrators who chanted about “jihad” in London at the weekend, the transport secretary, Mark Harper, has said.
Suella Braverman is to meet the force’s commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, after video footage from a rally on Saturday organised by the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir showed a man talking about Palestine and asking what the solution was, before the word “jihad” was heard.
Continue reading...Former Autumnwatch presenter describes 8 Out Of 10 Bats show as ‘the Sex Pistols of wildlife TV’
A new upstart is entering the big-budget world of wildlife film-making. After the BBC scrapped Autumnwatch, Chris Packham is launching his own nature show, which will be broadcast for two weeks on YouTube.
In stark contrast to the multimillion-pound Planet Earth III, which premiered on Sunday night with 97-year-old Sir David Attenborough narrating, 8 Out of 10 Bats, which begins on Monday evening, is an “anarchic” DIY operation that cost just £50,000 and features a diverse roster of teenage and 20-something naturalist presenters.
Continue reading...Hunterian had listed stillborn child of African descent as viewable for medical research but removed it after criticism from author
The remains of a stillborn Bambuti baby have been removed from a museum’s catalogue of items that can be viewed for medical research after criticism from a Booker prize-shortlisted author.
Novelist Nadifa Mohamed is the presenter of an upcoming Channel 4 documentary examining the history of “human zoos” in Britain, in which African and Asian people were put on display to the wider public in a practice which is now deemed to have been deeply racist.
Britain’s Human Zoos is on Channel 4 on Saturday 28 October
Continue reading...Groups urge government to introduce emergency family reunion scheme modelled on initiative for Ukrainians
A blueprint setting out how Britain could provide refuge to thousands of Palestinians from Gaza has been drawn up by a coalition of charities and groups.
Organisations including the Refugee Council, Safe Passage International, Doctors of the World, Helen Bamber Foundation and City of Sanctuary have raised concerns about the conflict worsening the Palestinian refugee crisis.
Continue reading...Britain’s ex-head of counter-terrorism says government failed to act on a recommendation to change legislation
Gaps in UK law that would allow words such as “jihad” to be shouted at rallies were known to the government but not acted upon, Britain’s former head of counter-terrorism has revealed.
The comments from Neil Basu come as some ministers condemned police for their handling of weekend demonstrations in London, with the home secretary, Suella Braverman, due to meet the Metropolitan police commissioner on Monday.
Continue reading...Noiya Sharabi confirmed dead along with sister, Yahel, and mother, Lianne, after raid on Israeli kibbutz
A 16-year-old British girl who went missing after Hamas targeted an Israeli kibbutz was murdered during the attack along with her sister and mother, her family have said.
Noiya Sharabi was feared kidnapped after the 7 October attack on Be’eri kibbutz in which her 13-year-old sister and mother were killed. However, on Sunday her family told the BBC that she too had been murdered.
Continue reading...Communities secretary calls for safe return of Israeli hostages during Trafalgar Square event
The communities secretary, Michael Gove, has told a rally in central London that the UK must stand with Israel in its fight against Hamas, as hundreds gathered to call for the safe return of hostages.
The “solidarity rally” in Trafalgar Square on Sunday afternoon was organised by a number of groups, including the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Many in the crowd chanted “Bring them home” and held signs saying “Release the hostages” as they queued to get in.
Continue reading...Major cleanup operations get under way in worst-hit areas after storm that left four people dead
Fresh danger-to-life flood warnings have been issued as water levels continued to rise in the wake of Storm Babet, while cleanup operations got under way in some of the worst-hit areas.
All weather warnings triggered by the storm had expired on Sunday morning, with drier and brighter weather forecast, but flooding was expected to last for days and two severe flood warnings, signalling danger to life, were later issued for Retford in Nottinghamshire.
Continue reading...Exclusive: HMRC investigation into peer Anthony Bamford and his brother focuses on offshore trusts that own business empire
The influential Tory donors behind the JCB digger empire could be hit with a bill for more than £500m to settle a longrunning investigation by HM Revenue and Customs, the Guardian can reveal.
The investigation into Anthony Bamford, a Tory peer, and his brother Mark, the director of a subsidiary of the Conservative party, is understood to span a complex network of offshore tax havens and companies.
Continue reading...PM under pressure from Tory right for more tax cuts and from moderates for policies to tackle cost of living crisis
Rishi Sunak is facing discontent among his backbenchers as he heads into the one-year anniversary of his time in No 10, with Jacob Rees-Mogg calling for the government to wake up from a “torpor”.
The prime minister is under pressure from rightwingers for tax cuts and more Conservative policies, while moderates are pushing for more centre-ground plans that deal with the cost of living to stop votes being lost to Labour.
Continue reading...Policy reportedly includes sexual relationships and friendships, and launch follows Phillip Schofield’s resignation over workplace affair
ITV has drawn up strict new rules requiring staff to declare all relationships with colleagues – which could even include friendships – in the wake of Phillip Schofield’s resignation earlier this year over a workplace affair, according to a report.
The This Morning presenter quit after admitting that he had lied about an “unwise, but not illegal” affair, amid allegations that ITV bosses had turned a blind eye to the relationship.
Continue reading...Miles Roberts of packaging-maker DS Smith warns manufacturing will decline unless government provides clarity about decarbonisation
The UK risks seeing its manufacturing sector fall behind rival economies if the government does not offer certainty over policies on shifting to green energy, according to the head of FTSE 100 packaging maker DS Smith.
Miles Roberts, the company’s chief executive, said British government decarbonisation policy has lacked the clarity of European rivals, meaning DS Smith has moved ahead with a €90m (£78m) investment in a paper mill in Rouen, northern France, while waiting for more clarity from government before investing in upgrades in the UK.
Continue reading...Warnings from both the Met Office and the Environment Agency come as storm continues to batter the UK
In North Wales, a sheepdog named Patsy rescued three ewes which had been cut off by floodwater on Friday afternoon.
Farmer Llyr Derwydd, 44, went to check on his sheep in Flintshire when he saw the sheep “stranded on this little spot on the field”.
So we thought we’d better get them off and make sure they’re safe.
I just thought, ‘I’ll see if the dog will go’. I gave her the command and she swam across.
Continue reading...Oppenheimer star says she is ‘appalled’ by her remarks in 2012 interview with Jonathan Ross
Emily Blunt has apologised for referring to a restaurant worker as “enormous” on a chatshow that aired 11 years ago.
In a resurfaced clip from an episode of the Jonathan Ross Show first broadcast on ITV in September 2012, the star of the summer blockbuster Oppenheimer said a waitress who served her at a Chili’s restaurant in Louisiana was “enormous”.
Continue reading...Clues unearthed more than 100 years ago inspired archeologists to locate the 5,000-year-old site
The ruins of a 5,000-year-old tomb in a construction that reflects the pinnacle of neolithic engineering in northern Britain has been unearthed in Orkney.
Fourteen articulated skeletons of men, women and children – two positioned as if they were embracing – have been found inside one of six cells or side rooms.
Continue reading...Change means drone operators could face fines up to £2,500 for flying within 400 metres of prisons or young offender institutions
New “no-fly zones” will be introduced around prisons in England and Wales to prevent drones being used to deliver drugs and contraband to inmates.
The legal change will mean drone operators could face fines of up to £2,500 for flying within 400 metres of closed prisons or young offender institutions.
Continue reading...Cross-party MPs host inaugural conference to agree on common statement to put to parliament
Politicians, campaigners and community groups are uniting for the first time to make “a very distinct and clear call for reparative justice” at an inaugural reparations conference this weekend.
The all-party parliamentary group for Afrikan reparations (APPG-AR), a group of cross-party MPs, is hosting its first reparations conference in Euston in north London to collectively agree on a common statement with stakeholders and grassroots campaigners that can be used by MPs to push forward a policy for reparative justice in the House of Commons.
Continue reading...Suella Braverman accused by MP Stella Creasy of denying will of parliament in passing safe access law
Pro-choice MPs and activists have expressed their frustration at the government’s failure to implement a law on buffer zones around abortion clinics one year after 297 MPs voted in favour of the zones and as women face a new wave of protests when accessing reproductive care.
A Home Office spokesperson told the Observer that timelines would be confirmed “in due course” but refused to explain why the law was not yet in force and failed to confirm if a consultation on safe-access zones legislation had been launched.
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