Category Archives: UK news

Shell accused of eco-destruction in push to demolish old HQ

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Plan to knock down former offices in Aberdeen will release ‘vast amount of carbon emissions in atmosphere’ warn experts

Aberdeen is arguably best known for two things: granite – found in nearby quarries and used to construct almost all of the coastal city’s buildings – and oil. After the discovery of a significant reserve in the North Sea in the 1970s, Aberdeen became known as Europe’s oil capital and a thriving oil and gas industry sprang up in Scotland’s north-east.

At the centre of the boom was the multinational company Shell, which built a five-storey modernist headquarters in the city’s Tullos area, from where it operated for half a century, before moving last year. Now the building has become the subject of a bitter row after Shell announced its intention to demolish rather than upgrade and repurpose it.

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Bailiffs making record profits collecting debt for councils in cost of living crisis

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Charities call for an end to the outsourcing of public debt as firms’ turnover rises nearly 50% in a year

Bailiffs hired by councils to recover unpaid debts have seen their profits rise to record levels during the cost of living crisis, company filings show.

Newlyn Group, which is hired by councils to recover unpaid traffic fines and council tax, saw its turnover from debt collection increase by 43.8% to £25.8m in the year to December 2022, while its gross profit rose to £15.5m. Company documents describe the figures as Newlyn’s “best ever results”.

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‘Like a ball of fire’: Perseids meteor shower to peak this weekend

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While meteors are active from July, Perseids will be most visible in northern hemisphere this Saturday and Sunday

Stargazers will be in for a treat this weekend as the best meteor shower of the year is expected to peak.

The Perseids are named after the Greek hero Perseus because the meteor shower appears to come from the eponymous constellation.

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Suella Braverman under pressure to scrap refugee barge plan after legionella found

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Asylum seekers removed from Bibby Stockholm after bacteria which can cause serious lung infection found in water

Suella Braverman is under pressure to abandon plans to house asylum seekers on a barge after 39 people had to be removed from the vessel after the discovery of potentially deadly bacteria in the water system.

Ministers said they were concerned contractors knew there were traces of legionella bacteria on the Bibby Stockholm on Monday, when the first asylum seekers boarded the vessel in Portland, Dorset. Officials have insisted the Home Office was not told about the detection until Wednesday when further tests were ordered.

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Government attacks on lawyers degrading, say former Tory law officers

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Dominic Grieve and Edward Garnier denounce ‘lefty lawyer’ rhetoric as dossier target fears abuse will turn physical

Two former Conservative law officers have criticised the political rhetoric against “lefty lawyers” as damaging and wrong as the head of the Law Society warned it could lead to physical attacks on immigration solicitors.

Dominic Grieve, a former attorney general, and Edward Garnier, a Conservative peer and former solicitor general, said lawyers should not be attacked for doing their jobs, regardless of who they represent or their personal views.

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Sunak’s ‘intransigence’ on pay will lead to more NHS strikes, warns top doctor

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Exclusive: BMA council chair says medics will have no option but to stage more industrial action until ministers make ‘credible offer’

Rishi Sunak’s “increasingly intransigent” and “belligerent” stance on medics’ pay is blocking the path to ending the industrial action in the NHS, leaving no option but to strike until the next general election, one of Britain’s top doctors has warned.

Speaking to the Guardian on Friday after junior doctors launched a fifth round of industrial action, Prof Philip Banfield, the chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) council, said the union was standing firm and that doctors would continue to hold stoppages until they received a “credible offer”.

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‘Twinverclyde’: 17 sets of twins to start school in one Scottish authority

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Inverclyde welcomes second largest number of twins on record to start primary education

Seventeen sets of twins will start primary school in one Scottish local authority next week, the second largest number on record.

Schools in Inverclyde will welcome the twins for the first time on Friday 18 August, in an area that has colloquially become known as “Twinverclyde”.

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RMT announces Saturday rail strikes in August and September

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Rail workers’ union says 20,000 members from 14 firms will strike on 26 August and 2 September

Members of the biggest rail workers’ union are to stage fresh strikes in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union (RMT) said 20,000 of its members from 14 train operators would walk out on 26 August and 2 September.

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Owner ‘mortified’ Margate gallery was closed when Pedro Pascal turned up

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Hollywood star had come to see an exhibition featuring 17 images of his face, but found the door locked

The owner of an art gallery featuring an exhibition dedicated to Hollywood star Pedro Pascal said she was “mortified” the gallery was closed when the actor turned up for a visit.

Jessica Rhodes Robb, who owns and runs the venue with her partner, Gavin Blake, was bemused to discover Pascal, 48, had turned up to the Rhodes Gallery in Margate on Sunday to find the door closed.

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International search for three people over death of 10-year-old girl in Surrey

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Police conducting murder investigation after body found at house near Woking say they believe people have left UK

An international search has been launched after detectives said they believed three people sought over the suspected murder of a 10-year-old girl in Surrey left the UK on Wednesday.

Police opened a murder investigation on Thursday after discovering the child’s body at a house in the village of Horsell, near Woking.

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Data leaks have given Irish republican groups ‘upper hand’ against police, analysts warn

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Breaches hurt police morale and may help republican paramilitaries intimidate officers and their families

Police data breaches in Northern Ireland have given republican paramilitaries a powerful tool to intimidate, demoralise and target officers and their families for years to come, according to security experts.

The New IRA and other groups have gained the “upper hand” and will be able to use the unprecedented leaks of officers’ personal information to carry out psychological and possibly physical attacks, the analysts warned on Friday.

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Saudis ask to join UK, Italy and Japan’s joint air combat programme

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UK-backed move could help spread cost of developing fighter jet and drones, but may prove controversial

Saudi Arabia has asked the UK, Japan and Italy to be made a full partner in their joint effort to build the next generation of fighter jets, in a move backed by the British government.

Companies from the UK, Japan and Italy are working together to build a new fighter jet and other systems such as drones under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), also known as Tempest. The programme aims to deliver the first planes by 2035, a tight turnaround.

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Housing asylum seekers on barge ‘untenable’ after legionella discovery, says charity – as it happened

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Asylum seekers removed from Bibby Stockholm after legionella bacteria found in water system onboard

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have announced their candidate in the forthcoming Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection.

Gloria Adebo, who works as a data analyst, will run for the party in the vote triggered by the successful recall petition for Margaret Ferrier.

The Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection is a real chance for local people to deliver a judgment on the difficulties and disasters we have been landed in by incompetent, populist governments in London and Edinburgh.

It needn’t be like this. And it is the Liberal Democrats who, increasingly, are a growing and dynamic part of an alternative way forward - offering hope in place of despair, founded on a belief in individuals, in the rule of law, in equality of opportunity and the importance of human rights here and across the world.

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Other plans by Crooked House owners have caused anger in Midlands

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ATE Farms and associated firms attracted dozens of complaints before pub burned down in Staffordshire

The new owners of the Crooked House pub in Staffordshire, which was burned down in a fire and subsequently demolished, have angered local people in a series of other redevelopment plans across the Midlands.

Planning documents reveal ATE Farms, which bought the Crooked House from Marston’s brewery in July, and its associated companies have attracted dozens of complaints over plans that include building a solar farm and holiday lodges in the countryside, and redeveloping a village pub.

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Southern Water owner Macquarie invests further £550m

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Australian investment bank funds troubled UK utility’s overhaul of pipes and sewage works

The Australian infrastructure investor Macquarie has confirmed it will inject a further £550m into the UK’s Southern Water in an attempt to turn around the troubled company.

The funds are intended to help Southern Water, which supplies Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, to overhaul its leaky pipes and faulty sewage works.

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China’s new London embassy on hold pending Westminster intervention

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Deadline has passed for Beijing to appeal against Tower Hamlets council’s rejection of plans

China has temporarily shelved plans to build a new embassy in London, angrily accusing the British government of not doing enough to force through planning permission for the project.

China had been given until Thursday to file an appeal to Tower Hamlets council in east London after the proposals for the embassy were rejected.

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Murder investigation under way after girl, 10, found dead in Surrey

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Police officers were called to house in Woking in early hours in response to a concern for safety

A murder investigation has been launched after a 10-year-old girl was found dead at a house in Woking.

Officers were called to a property on Hammond Road at about 2.50am on Thursday in response to a concern for safety. On arrival, the girl was found dead, Surrey police said.

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Politicians too scared to take on tech firms, says former senior Met officer

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Dal Babu calls for financial penalties after social media posts attract hundreds of teenagers to Oxford Street

Politicians are too scared to take on big tech companies, a former chief superintendent has said after posts shared on social media attracted hundreds of teenagers to London’s Oxford Street.

Police issued 34 dispersal orders and arrested nine individuals on Wednesday after people gathered outside JD Sports in an apparent response to posts on Snapchat and TikTok urging users to take part in an “Oxford Circus JD robbery” at 3pm.

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Theresa Villiers had £70,000 in Shell shares while environment secretary

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MP failed to reveal shares in oil company for more than five years despite disclosure rules

A former environment secretary has revealed she has shares worth more than £70,000 in Shell that she did not disclose as required for more than five years.

Theresa Villiers was the secretary for environment, food and rural affairs from July 2019 until February 2020, but only this week disclosed she has had investments worth more than £70,000 each in Shell and the drinks company Diageo since February 2018. Villiers also disclosed shares worth more than £70,000 in Experian, held since July 2019, and in an investment trust, RIT Capital Partners.

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