Counter-terrorism officers investigating as Police Scotland arrest 36-year-old white Scottish man
Counter-terrorism officers are investigating a number of “violent attacks” in Edinburgh on Friday night that injured five men in suspected anti-Muslim incidents.
A 36-year-old white Scottish man has been arrested and police have said there is no further threat to the public.
Continue reading...East of England ambulance service says number of people listed as seriously injured has increased to 32
Nine people are in a critical condition after the Bedford train crash that killed the driver of one of the trains, police have confirmed.
The total number of people listed as seriously injured has increased to 32, East of England ambulance service said on Saturday.
Continue reading...Guardian investigation also finds same areas experienced relative decline over same period
Leave-voting areas have seen faster relative growth in foreign workers since the Brexit referendum, a Guardian investigation has found.
Data analysis suggests that the decade since the Brexit vote may not have matched the expectations of many Leave supporters, showing their local areas have also become relatively more deprived over the same period.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Research suggests financial penalties necessary if number of large vehicles on roads is to be reduced
Drivers who are told about the safety risks posed by SUVs to cyclists and pedestrians are very unlikely to be deterred from buying one, a new study has found.
The findings indicate that if governments want to reduce the number of large, dangerous vehicles on the roads, it is likely to require financial penalties, according to the psychologists at Swansea University who led the research.
Continue reading...Lines closed between Luton and Bedford as emergency services attend scene
Two trains have collided in the Bedford area, authorities have said, with police and other emergency services at the scene.
The collision, which is reported to have caused injuries, has also caused major delays to the evening commute, with lines closed between Luton and Bedford, Thameslink said.
Continue reading...Cambridgeshire police say 30-year-old man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder is not fit to be interviewed
A man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a three-year-old boy ended up in a crocodile enclosure has been released because he is not fit to be interviewed, police have said.
The 30-year-old man from Norfolk has been bailed while detectives from the major crimes unit conduct further inquiries, Cambridgeshire police said.
Continue reading...Birds have been in the park since the Russian ambassador gave King Charles II two in 1664 – but none ever bred there
They arrived in the royal park shortly before the Great Fire of London, when the Russian ambassador presented a pair to King Charles II as a gift.
But although pelicans have been living in St James’s Park since 1664, none ever learned the art of courtship – until now, when for the first time in more than 360 years, chicks have been born.
Continue reading...Result expected around 3am as Labour’s Greater Manchester mayor hopes a win over Reform UK will help force the prime minister to step aside
Polls close in Makerfield byelection as Andy Burnham eyes No 10
Burnham brings in top economists before possible leadership run
David Blunkett, the former Labour cabinet minister, has suggested that Keir Starmer should stand down after the Makerfield byelection.
In an interview on the BBC’s Newsnight, Blunkett suggested that Starmer standing aside would be the best option for the party regardless of whether Andy Burnham wins tonight or loses.
Continue reading...Tories’ Douglas Lumsden says city has spoken ‘loud and clear’ in support of the North Sea oil and gas industry
The Scottish National party (SNP) has lost the formerly safe seat of Aberdeen South in a shock loss to the Scottish Conservatives.
The Scottish Conservatives’ Douglas Lumsden beat the SNP’s Richard Thomson by 6,050 votes, with a 14.69% swing away from the SNP. The Tories vote share was 49.51%. Lumsden’s vote tally was 14,308, with Thomson on 8,258.
Continue reading...Labour mayor giving advisory roles to ex-Bank of England economist and others seen as attempt to reassure markets
Three economic heavyweights have been brought in to advise Andy Burnham as he attempts to reassure the markets before his possible return to parliament on Friday and challenge to Keir Starmer.
Burnham is understood to be getting advice from Andy Haldane, a former Bank of England chief economist, as well as Richard Hughes, a former chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility and Jim O’Neill, a crossbench peer and former Treasury minister who worked on George Osborne’s “Northern Powerhouse”.
Continue reading...US defence secretary addresses allies in latest attempt to get Europe to raise military budgets
Pete Hegseth has announced a review of the US military presence across Europe, in a combative address to Nato allies where he threatened to cut force numbers in countries spending the least on defence.
The US defence secretary, speaking at a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels, accused some countries of “free riding” and others of being shameful for not allowing their airbases to be used by US jets bombing Iran in the spring.
Continue reading...Former negotiator believes in an unstable world, it is ‘perfectly possible’ the UK can rejoin the EU with old opt-outs
A couple of years ago, Michel Barnier spent a weekend with Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley. It was not some ghoulish Brexit spin-off of The Traitors, but the result of the former EU negotiator’s wife, Isabelle, being a close friend of Johnson’s French cousin, Anne du Boucheron, the owner of Château de la Baronnière, a 19th-century estate in Mauges-sur-Loire, in western France.
“We spent a weekend together in a French castle. Very friendly. Long promenades in the forest,” Barnier recalls of Johnson senior, with whom he discussed the former prime minister’s motivation to back Brexit. “It was interesting. Boris was much more European at the beginning. Even if he was critical. I don’t see it as a motivation but it is, perhaps, a method or attitude: to be pragmatic in some way. Cynical. Cynical to get power.”
Continue reading...Exclusive: Former chief Brexit negotiator says staying out of euro and Schengen area would be ‘perfectly possible’
Michel Barnier has said Britain could regain its special terms if it rejoined the EU and claimed it was becoming clearer every day to the British people that they would be stronger in Europe.
In an interview before the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum next week, the EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator said he could not see any obstacle to the UK keeping the pound and remaining outside the passport-free Schengen travel area should the country rejoin.
Continue reading...John Ray, 17th-century botanist who coined words petal and pollen, was a tutor at Cambridge when he created his first garden
He coined the terms petal and pollen, helped to lay the foundations of modern biology and is widely regarded as the greatest English naturalist of the 17th century.
But it was while he was a young college tutor at Cambridge in the 1650s that the botanist John Ray – also known as “the father of natural history” – created his first known garden and began to systematically study plants for the first time.
Continue reading...Drop will put pressure on Bank of England to raise interest rates despite peace deal in Iran war
Unemployment fell and wages increased in April, official figures showed, putting pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates despite a peace deal in the Middle East.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed unemployment slipped to 4.9% in the three months to April from 5% in the three months to March.
Continue reading...UK’s biggest retailer reports better figures than expected by City analysts and is cheered by strong online sales
Tesco’s UK sales growth has more than halved as it said the conflict in the Middle East had created “ongoing uncertainty for many households”.
The UK’s biggest retailer said comparable sales rose 1.8% to £13.4bn in the three months to the end of May, below both the 4.2% reported in the previous quarter and the 2.3% growth City analysts had expected.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Economists find Brexit caused 12% depression in UK exports, most of which is due to leaving single market
Brexit has depressed UK exports to the EU by 12%, and rejoining the customs union would undo only a fraction of the damage, research shared with the Guardian shows.
With the UK’s future relationship with the bloc likely to feature prominently in a potential Labour leadership contest, the economists John Springford and Anton Spisak, of the Centre for European Reform, provide fresh evidence of the damage caused by exiting.
Continue reading...YouGov survey of six countries shows respondents think crime is increasing – though most trust their national police
Western Europeans believe crime is rising in their country, according to a survey, despite long-term overall crime rates falling across the region since the mid-1990s.
The YouGov poll of Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain found most countries trusted their national police, led by Denmark where 74% of respondents said they had a lot or a fair amount of confidence in police nationally.
Continue reading...Review reveals rise in users and rates of psychosis in countries where cannabis is sold commercially
Decriminalising the possession of cannabis or strictly regulating access to the drug do not appear to drive up usage, but when the drug is sold commercially the number of users increases and more mental health problems are seen, a review has found.
An international team analysed the dramatic shift in policies on cannabis between 2000 and 2025, including how the numbers of people taking the drug, its potency, and rates of psychosis changed after new rules came in.
Continue reading...Rachael Maskell said she hoped Andy Burnham could become prime minister before the Labour party conference in September
Andy Burnham may have trouble getting through to Keir Starmer if he tries ringing him after the Makerfield byelection to urge him to set a timetable for his departure. Burnham reportedly wants to call Starmer this weekend. (See 9.47am.) But, in his interview with Sky News, Starmer said: “I’m sure I’ll talk to Andy after the weekend.”
If Starmer declines to take Burnham’s call, he may be following Ed Miliband’s example. In a Times story today, Patrick Maguire and Steven Swinford report:
Sir Keir Starmer’s relationship with Ed Miliband has broken down to such an extent that the energy secretary has been accused of “ghosting” the prime minister in recent weeks.
Senior government sources claimed that Miliband declined to take calls from the prime minister during a tense stand-off over defence spending.
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