Arena in Birmingham cleared after report of suspicious bag, with comedian pulled from stage mid-performance
A man has been charged over a bomb hoax after a live show by comedian Peter Kay in Birmingham was stopped when a “potentially suspicious bag” was found around the venue.
The Utilita Arena Birmingham was evacuated and a 19-year-old man was taken into custody, West Midlands police said on Friday evening.
Continue reading...Four people are in hospital, with one 25-year-old man facing life-threatening injuries
A drive-by shooting in Brixton which left four people in hospital on Saturday has been called “an act of indiscriminate violence” by police.
Shots were fired in the early hours on Coldharbour Lane in the south London area, leaving one 25-year-old man in hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Continue reading...Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson and Robert Jenrick, among others, have sung the praises of the JCB PotHole Pro
Reform UK’s leading figures have repeatedly promoted a new pothole-fixing machine by the construction company JCB, while the party received £200,000 from the British digger maker, the Guardian can reveal.
Several Reform politicians including Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson, Robert Jenrick, Zia Yusuf and Richard Tice have sung the praises of the JCB PotHole Pro machine.
Continue reading...Actors Richard E Grant, Michael Sheen and Bella Ramsey among star-studded cast hoping for victory as BBC’s hit spin-off series returns to screens
Considering the Traitors is a game of murderous treachery played out in a castle, the Shakespearian actors in the cast of the new celebrity spin-off series should be well set.
Oscar-winner Richard E Grant, acclaimed actor Michael Sheen and The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey are among the thespians vying for victory this year, all of who have the Bard on their CV.
Continue reading...PM worried about ‘cumulative’ effect of marches, as Met chief says Jewish communities facing biggest threat
Some pro-Palestinian demonstrations could be stopped, the prime minister has warned, as the UK’s most senior police officer said the threat to the Jewish community was greater than it had ever been.
Keir Starmer indicated he wanted the language expressed on some protest marches to be subjected to “tougher action” as he sought to allay the fears of British Jews after a series of attacks on their communities in recent weeks.
Continue reading...Exclusive: The collection, including donations from Paul McCartney’s brother Mike, shows band’s development in early 60s
A rare set of letters and photos from the early days of the Beatles, in which they write about feeling like stars for the first time, is to go on display in Hamburg.
The collection, from an influential period when the band lived in the German city, includes the only letter in existence with words from both Paul McCartney and John Lennon, which was written to the bassist’s brother, Mike McCartney.
Continue reading...Kurdish Syrian man, 26, said he fled forced conscription by YPG militia because he ‘didn’t want to kill people’
An asylum seeker sent back to France under the controversial “one in, one out” scheme faces being returned to Syria after authorities in Paris ruled it was safe to do so, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.
When the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced the “groundbreaking” deal in July 2025 to stop small boats crowded with asylum seekers from crossing the Channel – by forcibly returning one small-boat asylum seeker to France in exchange for bringing one in northern France legally to the UK – they emphasised that France was a safe country for returnees.
Continue reading...‘Targeted support’ means certain banks and financial institutions can offer free extra help with investments and pensions
Many Britons are daunted by the world of investing, but new City rules mean certain banks and financial institutions can offer free extra help with investments and pensions.
Last month marked the launch of “targeted support”, a new regulated service that permits companies to suggest investments and pension products to customers that might provide a better return.
Continue reading...Comedian pulled from stage in Birmingham about 45 minutes into performance and audience told to leave
A live show by comedian Peter Kay in Birmingham has been stopped after a “potential suspicious bag” was found around the venue.
The Utilita Arena Birmingham was evacuated and a 19-year-old man was taken into custody, West Midlands police said on Friday evening.
Continue reading...Green leader apologises for sharing post that said officers were ‘repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head’ and says he had did so ‘in haste’
Keir Starmer has condemned Zack Polanski as “disgraceful” and unfit to head a political party after the Greens’ leader shared a social media post critical of the way police tackled the suspect in the Golders Green stabbings.
The prime minister said any criticism of the police involved in the arrest was unfair on officers having to make split-second decisions in a moment of potentially grave danger.
Continue reading...Company accepts it failed to prevent bribery in connection with contracts in Algeria and Oman sought through agents
The British defence company Ultra Electronics has accepted responsibility for a failure to prevent bribery and agreed to pay £15m after an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.
The penalties are part of a deferred prosecution approved by the high court on Friday, after an investigation opened in 2018 when the company referred itself to the UK law enforcement agency a month after corruption allegations were published by Algerian media.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Greater Manchester mayor said to have identified seats where MPs would step aside to allow leadership bid
Andy Burnham has a credible plan to return to Westminster “within weeks”, his allies have said, with the Greater Manchester mayor expected to use a byelection fight to set out a new agenda for government.
Burnham, who was blocked by Labour’s ruling body from running in February’s Gorton and Denton byelection, has identified several seats where MPs are prepared to step aside for his leadership bid.
Continue reading...Greg Jackson argues against costly investments in UK’s power grid that are adding to household bills
The boss of the UK’s biggest energy supplier has suggested that some households would accept an occasional electricity blackout in exchange for much lower energy bills.
A year on from Europe’s largest power outage – which left tens of millions of people in Spain and Portugal without trains, metros, traffic lights, ATMs, phone connections and internet access – the chief executive of Octopus Energy argued against costly investments in the UK’s power grid that are adding to household bills.
Continue reading...Profits ahead of expectations but almost half of £283m impairment charge follows forecast reassessment
NatWest said the economic fallout from the conflict in the Middle East could cost it £140m amid slowing growth and rising inflation even as it reported profits ahead of expectations.
Overall, the FTSE 100 lender booked a £283m impairment charge and said that almost half of that was because of a reassessment of its economic forecast to “reflect increased geopolitical risk and weaker equity markets”.
Continue reading...Electoral Commission reviewing whether Reform UK leader should have declared billionaire’s gift before entering parliament
The UK elections watchdog is considering whether to investigate an undisclosed £5m gift received by Nigel Farage before he announced his candidacy at the last general election.
The Guardian revealed this week that the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne gave the Reform UK leader the money.
Continue reading...Lambeth council candidates Saiqa Ali and Sabine Mairey understood to have been detained over social media posts
Two women standing as Green party candidates in the local elections have been arrested over alleged antisemitic social media posts.
The women, running in seats for Lambeth council, south London, were arrested by the Metropolitan police on Thursday morning.
Continue reading...Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre’s assessment means terror attack thought to be ‘highly likely’
The UK terrorism threat level has been raised to “severe” by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre after the Golders Green stabbings, meaning a terror attack is thought to be “highly likely”.
The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, described Wednesday’s attack as a vile act of terrorism. “Today, the national threat level has increased to ‘severe’, which means a terrorist attack is considered highly likely,” she said.
Continue reading...The prime minister also accused anyone marching alongside Hamas supporters of ‘venerating the murder of Jews’
Keir Starmer has called on people to “open their eyes to Jewish pain” in the wake of the Golders Green terror attack, and accused anyone marching alongside supporters of Hamas of “venerating the murder of Jews”.
The prime minister made his strongest ever remarks on antisemitism after visiting the area of the attacks for a meeting with emergency workers and community leaders.
Continue reading...Results suggest radiotracer maraciclatide can ‘light up’ condition on scan and reduce need for investigative surgery
A non-invasive scan for endometriosis has shown promising results in a trial, boosting hopes for far quicker diagnosis.
The trial, which included 19 women with the condition, suggests that an experimental radiotracer, called maraciclatide, can “light up” endometriosis on a scan. The current need for a surgical investigation is seen as a major obstacle to timely diagnosis, with women in England typically waiting nearly a decade.
Continue reading...Actor and presenter broke his hip, right leg, pelvis and ribs when he gave a talk at CogX festival at O2 Arena in 2023
Stephen Fry is suing two companies that organised a tech conference where he was injured in 2023 after falling off the stage, high court documents show.
The actor and presenter broke his hip and had multiple breaks in his right leg, pelvis and ribs when he attended the CogX festival at the O2 Arena, where he delivered a talk on artificial intelligence on 14 September 2023.
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