Category Archives: UK news

French coastguards mobilise six boats and a helicopter after Channel deaths

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Improving weather and sea conditions have raised fears of further attempts to reach the UK on small boats

French coastguards have mobilised six patrol boats in the Channel and a helicopter in anticipation of further attempts by migrants to cross as weather and sea conditions improve.

The high alert comes as prosecutors opened an investigation for manslaughter after at least six people died as a result of a small boat capsizing and sinking in the early hours of Saturday. Rescuers are still searching for at least one other missing person presumed drowned.

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Kenya launches inquiry into claims of abuse by British soldiers at training unit

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Nairobi MPs say findings could have implications for the defence deal that allows UK troops to train in the country

The Kenyan government has launched an inquiry into allegations of abuse by the British army, which MPs say could have implications for the future role of UK troops in the country.

The investigation will examine the activities of the British Army Training Unit Kenya (Batuk), whose soldiers have been accused of murder, sexual abuse, and damaging land close to its base in Nanyuki, about 125 miles (200km) north of the capital, Nairobi.

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Two people seriously injured as car crashes into campsite in Wales

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Six people taken to hospital after vehicle veers off road and hits tent containing baby, who escapes serious injury

Two people have been left seriously injured and four others taken to hospital after a car veered off a road and crashed into a tent on a Welsh campsite.

A baby was inside the tent hit by the car at Newgale campsite in Haverfordwest on the Pembrokeshire coast, west Wales, but is understood to have escaped serious injury.

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Cigarette packs could soon include advice on how to quit smoking

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Ministers launch a consultation on including inserts in boxes that outline the benefits of quitting tobacco

Plain packaging, graphic images of lung disease and warnings that smoking causes cancer already adorn cigarette boxes. But now smokers in the UK could also be given an upbeat note with every pack in an attempt to help them quit.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced that it is opening a consultation on Monday to seek views on the introduction and design of pack inserts for tobacco products, such as cigarettes and rolling tobacco.

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Nearly 4m fewer UK working days in past year due to strike action, study says

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Resolution Foundation report says much of industrial action ‘fuelled’ by public sector workers’ anger over falls in real-terms pay

About 3.9m working days have been lost to industrial action in the past year, more than at any point since the 1980s, according to a new analysis.

The Resolution Foundation, which focuses its research on low- to middle-income households, said many of the strikes were “fuelled” by anger among public sector workers over real-terms pay declines, which amounted to an average cut of more than 9% since 2021, adjusted for inflation.

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Sharp rise in cost of food basics forces UK families ‘to make desperate choices’

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Which? research finds cheese, butter and bread are up by more than 30% in the past two years, hitting the poor hardest

The cost of some basic food items such as cheese, butter and bread has soared by more than 30% in the last two years, forcing poorer households to “make desperate choices between keeping up with their bill payments or putting food on the table,” campaigners have said.

Food price inflation has slowed in recent months, but costs remain much higher than they were two years ago, disproportionally affecting low-income households, according to research by consumer body Which? shared exclusively with the Guardian.

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Disadvantaged students to bear brunt of grade deflation, say experts

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Social Mobility Foundation says it expects GCSE and A-level attainment gap based on income to grow this year

Disadvantaged students are likely to bear the brunt of grade deflation when this year’s A-level and GCSE grades are published, according to experts, who said the government’s decision to impose pre-pandemic grading in England was premature.

This week hundreds of thousands of sixth-formers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive the results of their A-level, BTec and other exams. But a survey of students by the Social Mobility Foundation (SMF) found that those from disadvantaged or low-income backgrounds in England were less likely to have received the help they needed to restore learning lost during the pandemic.

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Letters from George Harrison’s mum reveal her horror at Beatles fans

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Louise Harrison wrote of her disgust at screaming fans in letters to be sold at annual Liverpool Beatles Auction

In an inflammatory 1964 essay on the “menace of Beatlism”, the historian and commentator Paul Johnson described the fans who screamed themselves into hysteria as “the least fortunate of their generation, the dull, the idle, the failures”.

He wasn’t alone. A newly revealed letter from George Harrison’s mum shows that she was similarly horrified.

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Britain has felt the shift to home working more than most countries

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For many reasons it is no surprise that the office exodus is so pronounced in the historical centre of Anglo-Saxon capitalism

Working from home is a seismic shift in employment patterns that has rocked businesses, charities and public sector organisations across the world.

From Hong Kong and Singapore to London, New York and Toronto, white collar workers have changed the way they work, shop and pursue leisure, culture and recreation, shifting many local economies on their axis. For many towns and cities it’s as if the sun shines at a different point in the day, such is the transformation in how about 60% of people conduct their lives.

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TikTok users in UK to be left with ‘more toxic’ version of app, say campaigners

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Activists call on tech giant to extend a change making personalised algorithm optional to comply with rules for EEA countries

TikTok users in the UK face being left with a “less safe” and “more toxic” version of the app than those in Europe after the tech giant was forced to make its personalised algorithm optional there to comply with EU rules.

From the end of August, TikTok users in 30 countries in the European Economic Area will be able to opt out of receiving personalised content recommendations, which are largely generated based on past activity. Instead, their “For You” and live feeds will include popular videos from the places they live and around the world.

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Rishi Sunak must not retreat from climate pledges, says top Tory mayor

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Andy Street, seen as most powerful Conservative outside London, vows to fight party’s retreat from climate pledges

The most powerful Conservative outside London has warned he will not hesitate to stand up to the party should it attempt to retreat from its pledge to tackle the climate crisis.

There are already serious concerns that Rishi Sunak and his advisers are using green policies as a political dividing line with Labour in an attempt to revive the party’s fortunes. The prime minister recently backed “maxing out” oil and gas reserves, while cabinet minister Michael Gove said net zero should not become a “religious crusade”. Tory MPs have also demanded a delay to the ban on petrol car sales by 2030.

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Landmark NHS recruitment plan in danger from applicant shortfall

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The huge increase in students needed to fill medical training places, and supplying the staff to teach them, may not be feasible

A “once in a generation” NHS recruitment plan requiring an extra 50,000 clinical training places in less than a decade risks being derailed by difficulties in finding enough applicants and a shrinking number of staff to teach them.

A new analysis seen by the Observer reveals the sheer scale of the proposed increase in NHS staff implied by the government’s long-awaited workforce plan, unveiled at the start of the summer and given a broad welcome across the NHS.

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‘The Holocaust happened on British soil’: Inquiry into​ Nazi camps creates bitter divide on Alderney

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An official investigation of claims that many more people than previously thought died during Nazi control of the Channel Island has pleased some, but dismayed others

Their foreboding entrance smothered in ivy, the tunnels gouged out of sheer rock beside Water Lane on the island of Alderney have long terrified generations of the island’s children.

For decades, though, it seemed that was as far as the notoriety of the dank tunnels on the outskirts of St Anne, the capital of the tiny Channel Island, would extend.

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Tax cuts would put ‘scary’ UK finances in greater danger, warns top economist

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Paul Johnson, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, issues plea for honesty from Labour and the Conservatives about tax and spending choices ahead of election

Unveiling significant tax cuts before next year’s general election would put Britain’s “scary” public finances in further peril and risk the nightmare scenario of even higher interest rates, one of the country’s most influential economists has said.

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, also made a plea for honesty from both main parties over the profound tax and spending choices they would face should they win power.

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We risk being seen as the ‘nasty party’ again, warn senior Conservatives

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Moderate Tories fear the party’s attack on human rights will alienate many voters and damage the UK’s global standing

The Conservatives risk being seen once again as the “nasty party” by trying to win votes with a divisive attack on human rights, senior party figures have warned.

Rishi Sunak is under increasing pressure from his party this weekend over his pledge to stop the boats crossing the Channel. It follows another week that ended in Channel deaths after the capsizing of a boat, while the total number of people making the dangerous crossing since 2018 rose above the 100,000 mark.

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‘An utter disgrace’: 90% of England’s most precious river habitats blighted by raw sewage and farming pollution

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Observer investigation reveals the shocking state of the country’s protected freshwater sites of special scientific interest

More than 90% of freshwater habitats on England’s most precious rivers are in unfavourable condition, blighted by farming pollution, raw sewage and water abstraction, an Observer investigation reveals.

None of the approximately 40 rivers with protected habitats in England are in overall good health, according to an analysis of government inspection reports. These include the River Avon in Hampshire, the Wensum in Norfolk and the Eden in Cumbria.

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Calls for safe routes for refugees mount after six more Channel drownings

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Lack of safe passage described as ‘moral disgrace’ as helpers say legal routes would end dangerous crossings

Calls are mounting in the UK and France for the introduction of safe routes for refugees crossing the Channel after a French organisation said it had received multiple distress calls from people making the crossing in recent days.

At least six people lost their lives early on Saturday trying to cross the Channel in a small boat and the organisation issued warnings that more lives would be lost in future unless there were significant government policy changes.

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Forty days, 117 buses, 1,650 miles: man completes charity trip round England

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Stephen Chitty, 70, from Watford raised about £2,000 for Mercy Ships on ‘tiring but rewarding’ journey

A 70-year-old man has raised almost £2,000 for charity by completing a 40-day challenge to travel the length and breadth of England entirely by bus.

Stephen Chitty, from Watford, Hertfordshire, travelled 1,650 miles on 117 buses. He started and finished his ambitious journey in Watford and travelled to English cities including Newcastle and Norwich.

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‘People are sick of having our heritage knocked down’: how the Crooked House saga became a state of the nation story

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Fate of Black Country pub could serve as catalyst for campaigns to preserve a flawed but colourful past

When Paul Turner started an online petition calling for his local pub in the Staffordshire village of Himley to be saved after it was sold to new owners, he was expecting only a few hundred signatures. Then the Crooked House pub burned down, making headlines around the world.

“I expected it to be just a few names, but we’re approaching 16,000 signatures now,” said Turner. “It has turned into something completely different. The amount of support we’ve had has been unbelievable.”

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South-east England could be hotter than LA next week, forecasters say

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Met Office predicts that after a brief period of wet weather, temperatures across the UK will be significantly higher by Friday

Tropical air could make parts of the UK hotter than California at the end of next week with temperatures forecast to possibly rise above 30C, but only after heavy rain lashes the country.

High pressure expected to build from the middle of the week means temperatures in south-east England could reach 32C on Friday, according to the Met Office – higher than the 26C predicted for Los Angeles.

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